Of Knights and Kings
by CaioOP1985
Summary: The world is changing quickly. A terrorist named Zero has formed a group called the Order of the Black Knights and is wrecking havok at Area 11. A new piece suddenly appears on the board, one that can change everything.
1. Chapter 1

**Unknown**

I ran. I kept running without knowing the reason for doing it. Looking back, I saw no one pursuing me as I pushed aside those in my way. Even so, I ran. A feeling of cold fear was locked deep inside my chest was the main reason for my escape from invisible enemies. Without a destination in mind, my legs kept moving my body forward. Thinking about it now, had I turned at a different direction at some point, everything that happened could have been different.

At some point, the obvious happened: I ended up falling to the ground. While trying to get up from it, I heard voices coming from the opposite direction I was. By reflex, I hid myself in some bushes nearby, unmovable. After some tense moments, I managed to detect the ones coming.

'Sorry for the sudden calling, but you skipped class earlier, so that makes us even, right?' A young blonde woman spoke with a playful voice, slapping a young man's back.

'So I can't avoid it then? How many times do I have to tell you…?' The one with black short hair and impressively purple eyes said, before the girl stopped him in his tracks.

'Who's there?'

Shit, she saw me! In less than a second, I got up from my terrible hideout and go in the opposite direction from them. I could hear her calling out to me, but I ignored it. I couldn't get caught for some reason I didn't even know, or something horrible could happen.

However, it seems that the fatigue, fear and overall exhaustion got the better of me. I tripped once more and that time I stayed on the ground, feeling the cold stone of it as I went into darkness. The last thing I noticed was the diminishing voice in the distance from the blonde girl.

* * *

'Hey, are you alright?' Milly tried asking the young man who suddenly collapsed. 'Lelouch, I think he passed out.'

'Where did he come from? He isn't wearing the uniform of…' At that moment, Lelouch recognized the clothes the strange young man was wearing. 'What the…'

'Hey, can you hear me?' Milly checked his pulse and released a relieved sigh when she felt it, before getting worried again. 'He is burning with fever! We can't just leave him here! Let's take him to the nursery.'

Lelouch didn't argue with her about that decision, which he would on a normal basis. However, the strange silver-haired man was wearing the same clothes an associate of his did, which could mean several things. In order to better understand the situation, it was better to keep an eye on him and ask him some questions.

'At least give me a hand at carrying him!' Lelouch said to the girl, who gave him a mischievous look.

'But I am just a frail girl.' Despite having an extremely keen mind, Lelouch had a really weak body. 'You are an athletic young man, so you carry him by yourself.'

'You little…!' Lelouch said, putting all his strength into carrying the man in his right shoulder. 'You damn… slave lord! You will… pay for it!'

* * *

 **Ashford's Nursey**

Light slowly came as I slowly opened my eyes. At first, I couldn't understand what I was looking at, before realizing it was just a normal ceiling. My head was a complete mess, unable to focus in a single thought for even a second. There was something I should be wary about, but I couldn't exactly recall it…

The only thing I could recall was the image of a girl and a boy, but these recollections were also clouded. Moving my neck, I noticed I had an IV bag to my side, with a tube going to my arm, its contents entering my body slowly. It seemed like I was in some sort of nursery, lied down in a bed.

The next moment, my breath was taken away for a moment when I saw a woman sitting with her long legs crossed, reading a book in a chair by my side. Shoulder-length blonde hair, fair skin, blue eyes and a shapely figure made her seen like an angel for a few seconds, before my mind cleared a bit. She was humming an unknown song and seemed to not have noticed that I was regaining conscious.

I was about to say something to her, when every nerve in my body suddenly screamed the same thing: do not do it. For some reason that I was unaware, my instincts told me I should analyze my situation before actually doing it. The way she was dressed suggested she was a student of some king, probably in her final years judging by her appearance. I wasn't bound by any way, so I probably wasn't a prisoner or anything similar to that. She probably was the one who got me to the nursery, for whatever reason I passed out in the first place, so perhaps I could trust her… for the time being.

'Oh.' All that thinking seemed a little silly when she noticed I was awake before I called out to her. 'Welcome back to the world of the living.'

'Was I dead?' That seemed pretty unlikely, but my brain was still operating at the speed of a drunken turtle.

'Everyone, come in here! He's awake now!' She called out for someone outside the room and soon the nursery was flooded with people I didn't know, all wearing the same type of uniform as her.

'You face says you don't know where you are. Well, we'll be the ones asking some questions here.' A boy with black hair and somewhat aggressive looking eyes said to me, his whole body giving off an impression of anger.

'Stop antagonizing him, Lelouch! You'll scare him like that.' The angel-like girl scolded him. It appeared that she had some authority over the rest of them. 'Don't worry about him. You can just ignore this guy, since he is not dangerous at all.'

For some reason, those very same instincts that were against talking to the blonde before analyzing the situation warned me about the man named Lelouch. There was something in his eyes, something cold and calculative that felt like it pierced my very being. Out of all the people in that room, he was the one I felt the greatest discomfort with.

'Before I forget, my name is Milly Ashford, president of Ashford Academy's student council and the one who brought you here.'

'Ashford Academy…' It seemed like my theory of them being students was correct to some extent.

'Yep.' She seemed happy for some reason. 'Anyway… after you suddenly fainted, we carried you here, where you slept for several hours. Seriously, I was starting to think about calling an ambulance if you didn't wake up.'

'In the end, everything ended well.' Another attractive girl, this time with orange hair and green eyes, spoke, smiling at me.

'You were… worried about me?' It gave me a warm feeling in my chest, as if that didn't happen very often. It felt… good, for some reason.

'The nurse here gave a check on you, saying you were probably suffering from intense fatigue and weakness. She put an IV on you and said to let you rest before anything else. I can't even imagine what you could have done to become that tired, to the point of passing out.' She raised her body from the chair and sat down in the bed, right at my side, putting her hand over my forehead. 'Hum… your fever has cooled down considerably. So, to make things easier for everyone, why don't you tell us your name?'

My name…? At that moment, I realized how bad my memory loss was, as I couldn't recall my own name, aside from a single thing. I tried to remember it, but all I could get was a tame headache. The first thing I could remember was waking up there, but anything before that… wait! Something suddenly came to mind as the people inside the nursery kept their gazes at me, waiting for my answer. A flash of a woman wrapped in fog appeared for a brief moment, saying a single word, one that felt right in some way. Perhaps…

'Rai.' I said, those simple letters filling my chest with heat. 'My name is Rai.'

Remembering just that increased the pain to a mild one, coming in small waves at a fixed interval. I couldn't picture the woman that flashed before me, no matter how hard I tried, so I decided to give up. With some frustration, like I had missed some important detail, I faced Milly Ashford.

'Rai, is it? What an interesting name you have.'

'So, who exactly are… ouch!' Lelouch tried to speak, but Milly used her elbow to deliver a well-placed blow to his ribs, taking the air out of the lungs.

'It's rude to ask questions of a person before introducing yourself, don't you think? Since you are so eager to speak, you can start.'

'Lelouch Lamperouge.' He said while looking away from me. He had a very thin body, almost as if a slightly stronger wind could carry him away.

'I'm Rivalz. Rivalz Cardemonde.' Another guy, this time one with short blue hair and grey eyes greeted me with enthusiasm.

'My name is Shirley Fenette. Nice to meet you.' The orange haired said to me, showing a smile similar to Milly.

'I am Suzaku Kururugi. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rai.' The different name, different greeting (he slightly bowed to me) and appearance gave away the fact Suzaku wasn't completely like the others.

'Alright.' Milly clapped her hands, probably to get everyone's attention. 'Rai, could you tell us who you are and what were you doing inside the school?'

That was the moment of truth: I truly had no idea why would I enter the school or who I was, so how did I tell them that? I couldn't exactly tell them the only thing I remembered, either because it sounded too impossible or because it was too dangerous. That Lelouch guy was already suspicious of me before knowing about that, so I had to think of a way to not worse my situation. From the looks of it, if I could convince Milly about my condition, he would comply with her decisions, even if he disliked it. So, I tried the best approach I could think of: being honest.

'I can't remember those things.' I tried to sound firm in my words.

'So… are you saying you lost your memory?' Suzaku gazed at me with worried eyes.

I would say… 99% of it, as there was a single thing I knew about me. Was it base survival instincts that allowed me to know that, or something else? What I knew was the mysterious ability I had in my right eye and how it worked. How I did know that was something beyond me, but I knew with certainty it was the truth. For reasons that are probably obvious, I refuted from telling them about that.

'Maybe you have amnesia?' Milly spoke in a sad tone, pondering about it.

'Then we probably should hand him over to the police.' Lelouch said in a less harsh tone. 'They can get him actual help for his situation.'

'No!' I surprised myself for speaking so loudly. 'Not the police!'

'Why?' Great, I managed to make him even more suspicious of me.

'I… don't know.' It wasn't him that I had to convince, but Milly.

'President, I don't like this, at all. It's too suspicious for my taste.'

'I don't think Rai is a bad person. I don't feel this from him.' Shirley defended me from the suspicious one. 'Maybe there is a reason for his reluctance, but he can't remember.'

'Hum… then how about this: you can stay at Ashford Academy until your memories return.' That proposition caught me by surprise. Lelouch too, for the look on his face.

'That's a good idea, president.' Rivalz said with a big smile on his face.

'Idiot! Don't agree with something before giving it any thought!'

'There's nothing to be worried about here. Grandfather already said he could stay until he recovers, so there's no problem, right?'

'I'm not worried about him here!'

'It's fine isn't it? I mean, he doesn't look like a bad person, does he?' Shirley said to the grumpy one.

'Just say yes so we can settle it.' Milly patted my shoulder with enthusiasm.

For some reason, I had the feeling that even if I said no, Milly would have me stay there at the end. She had the aura of a person who got things done her way, no complaints from others. I was silent when I nodded to her, sighing at such a weird situation.

'As always, the student council is powerless against her decisions.' Lelouch said, also sighing.

'Welcome to Ashford Academy, Rai.' Suzaku was in a much better mood than the other guy.

'So it's decided. Now, all you need to officially enroll here is to be registered at the secretary and someone to sponsor you which will be me. Oh, before I forget, the two silent ghosts at the back are Nina Einstein and Kallen Stadfelt.

'H-Hello!' The one called Nina sounded like she was about to die from a heart attack from how red she was.

'Nice to meet you.' Kallen said in a distant tone.

'There's also another member of the council, but since it's late she already went to sleep. It's Nunnaly, Lelouch's little sister.' Milly then approached my ear and whispered on it, making a shiver go down my whole body. 'Touch her in any place… no, just think of touching her and Lelouch will murder you.'

'I will… remember that.' For some reason, I believed every word she just said.

'Oh, there's also the rule saying every student must belong to a club, so since I am your sponsor and the president, you can join the student council with us.'

'Thanks… I guess?'

'Expect to be treated as a slave, work beyond your capabilities every moment and be prepared to obey every single unreasonable demand of this president here.' Lelouch muttered without shame.

'Alright…' At that moment, my stomach growled loud enough that for a brief moment I thought an earthquake was happening.

'Sounds like you haven't eaten in a few days.' Shirley said, picking up a basket from a nearby desk. 'Have some of these.'

It appeared I was quite hungry, because I chowed down every single one of those sandwiches in a matter of minutes. There was also a thermos containing herbal tea, which disappeared as well. Only when I finished, I realized how impolite my actions were, so I felt my face hot as the others laughed.

'You were really starving, weren't you?' Rivalz spoke while laughing.

'I suppose…' I said, not looking at them.

'Alright everyone! Now that we confirmed that Rai is fine, let us all get some sleep. Rai, tomorrow I will come here to give you more information, alright?'

'Sure.'

'There's a bathroom over there and some pajamas for you to change into. Just leave your clothes in the basket that someone will wash it for you.'

'Thanks.'

'See you later.' Milly said, guiding the others to the outside.

After they left, the nursery seemed colder and lonely with only me inside of it. Rising from the bed, my legs shaking a little, I made my way to the bathroom. Once the hot water was flowing in my body and the steam rose, clouding my vision, my mind was mostly recovered and my thoughts were mostly clear. I managed to successfully get myself a place to at least sleep, but for how long?

Recovering my memories was the key, I just knew it. For whatever reason I became so weak to the point of passing out, I had to first remember everything to figure that out. The problem was that I didn't have any information aside from my name, which wouldn't actually help me much. And there was also Lelouch, who was suspicious of me from the beginning. Whatever I decide to do, I had to be careful to not make him my enemy or I would check first hand if my intuition about him being dangerous was correct.

I cleaned the mirror from the condensed water and saw my own face for the first time since I woke up. I had silver hair, not too short and neither too long. My eyes were crystal blue and my face was slim and quite handsome, if I had to actually say it. My body was similar to Lelouch's, but I could bet I was a lot more athletic. One thing that caught my attention was the many scars spread across it, some which I couldn't even recognize the cause.

Despite the person at the mirror moving exactly like I did, I couldn't get the feeling of him being me, no matter how hard I tried. I felt as a stranger in my own body, as if I was just a puppeteer moving his doll, without actually doing any work himself. Looking at my reflection, I wondered if I had any relative.

Were they similar to me? Were they different? Do we get along or discuss a lot? Where were they while I was unable to recognize even myself? Do they even exist…? Thinking that got my chest numb, as if an ancient wound was aching inside of it. Maybe something happened to them and I was all alone…

The only thing I knew for certain was the strange power I had in my right eye. I activate it by instinct and I watch as the blue is replaced by a shifting purple and a sigil that looked like a bird appeared on it. I had no idea what that thing was, but I knew what it could do: when turned on, I could give any order to people and they would obey, no matter what I said, as long as they listened to it.

Why did I have this thing? Could the reason behind my loss of memory be related to it? I had too many questions and no answer at all. Putting on the pajamas that I was given, which fit quite well (that was a bit creepy), I lied down on the bed again and stared at the ceiling for some time. After a time that seemed eternal, Morpheus managed to relief me of the burden of consciousness and I drifted into a dreamless slumber.

* * *

 **Lelouch's Room**

Lelouch kept glaring at the chess board he had placed over his desk, thinking how some of the new pieces would fit on it. As Zero, he had to use every single asset in his fight against Britannia if he hoped to be successful in his crusade. However, a new piece just appeared in the board, a completely unknown one, with some interesting outcomes available.

'If you keep staring at the pieces so strongly, they will flame up, you know?' C.C said while eating one of her many pizzas.

'Say…' Lelouch decided to finally ask her something that was eating him all day. 'When you were in Britannia's custody, do you remember someone else in the same situation as you?'

'I think there were some others, but I never got to see them, only heard talk of them.' She said, looking interested at the young man. 'Why?'

'Someone appeared today. Using chess analogy, his status right now is of a pawn who reached the end of the board and can become any other piece on the board. That includes playing in the enemy's side too, so I am wondering what I can get from the situation.'

'Why do you think he could make such a change in the way things will play out?'

'Mostly my intuition, but… not just he was wearing the same clothes as you, but there is something about him. It's hard to explain, but it feels like when I was with my older brother Schneizel. This new piece and him… had very similar auras around them. I wonder how that man would fare in a game of chess…'

'Interesting… want me to keep an eye on him?'

'If you could, I would be grateful.' Lelouch said, looking once more at the board. 'We need to be sure he will be an asset or a threat… to act accordingly.'


	2. Chapter 2

For the brief minutes since I woke up, all I had done was to stare at the ceiling in a daze, remembering what happened a day before. I had passed out from fatigue and was taken in by the student council of this Ashford Academy, with no memory of what happened in my life before. I also had a weird power that allowed me to order people to do my bidding, no matter what order I gave.

It's actually surprising how better I got over the course of a single night, with all the numbing pains from yesterday gone. Getting up from my bed, I stretched my muscles for a few minutes, testing how they were. I found out I had good flexibility. Drinking some water from the sink of the bathroom, I thought about how lucky I was to be found by Milly in the first place and not the police or the military. For some reason, I can't exactly trust them…

'Good morning!' Milly busted inside the room with the same joyful behavior of yesterday.

'Good morning.' I answer politely to her, noticing the paper bag she was carrying, together with Shirley and Kallen following her behind. I also greeted them.

'Did you remember anything?' Milly said, putting the paper bag on the bag on the bed I used.

'Nothing.' I said, looking with curiosity at the bag and wondering about its contents.

'Don't worry about it. They will come back at their own pace.' She said, picking a male uniform like the ones Lelouch and Suzaku were using in the last night and giving it to me. 'Why don't you try it out?'

'Okay…' For a few moments, I couldn't stop myself from staring at her long legs, barely covered by her skirt as she crossed them after sitting on the bed. I thought she was an angel in the last day and I still thought she was quite beautiful.

'What are you doing?' Kallen blushed violently while looking at me. 'At least go behind a curtain!'

'What?' I only noticed I was undressing in front of three girls when she pointed out. By then, I had already taken off the shirt. 'Oh, sorry.'

'Oh my…' Milly got up and approached me, looking at my chest. 'You have quite the good number of scars… what did you do, fought a tiger?'

'No idea.' Somehow, I didn't mind having she looking at my body. It felt somewhat natural to have people staring at my bare skin.

…

I AM NOT A PERVERT, OKAY?

'You must practice some sort of sport like swimming.' Shirley noticed while also staring at me. 'The guys at the swimming club all have a similar build to you.'

'Could you please… just go change quickly?' Kallen said while looking away from me.

She seemed like a sheltered girl who didn't have much contact with males, so I went behind a curtain to get changed. Strangely, the uniform fit really well, which made me wonder how Milly got one without knowing my measures… wait just a second!

'Milly…' I said, sweating a little bit.

'Yes?' She answered from the other side of the curtain.

'Where did you get my measures?' I was scared of the answer.

'That's a secret.' I imagined her doing a mischievous face on the other side of the thin piece of fabric.

'Lelouch lend her one of his spare uniforms.' Shirley put my mind at ease. 'We figured you two had more or less the same measures, although you have a much better build than him.'

'You spoiled all the fun…' At that moment, I opened the curtains and showed myself. 'Now what do we have here!'

'The black uniform makes a good contrast with the silver hair.' Shirley told me, giving an approving look.

'Remind me of thanking Lelouch later.' For such a harsh guy, he was quite kind with me.

'Let's get on to showing you around the school grounds.' Milly passed her arm around mine and started to guide me.

The place was a lot larger than I thought, with some pretty fancy buildings and places all around: big gardens filled with both grass and flowers, with some students moving around by using them as shortcuts; gyms for every kind of sport you could imagine (Shirley spoke quite excitedly when showing the pools); there were even horses in a stable for equitation classes. It seemed like one of those schools for nobles… which it probably was.

'If you want, you can use any of the facilities here any time you want, so try many different things during your time here, okay?' Milly informed me while we walked around.

Trying them… sounded like a good idea, as one of them could trigger a memory coming back. But that would have to come later, as I was being enrolled as a student there. The classrooms were pretty large and considerably comfortable in my eyes. The girls guided me to the one I was being assigned to.

'Since we have no actual documents for you, I managed to "secure" a few for you.' She said, handing me a wallet with an ID card and some money, together with a cell phone. 'I chose Hodges as your surname and put my personal number on the phone, together with the ones from everyone in the student council for emergencies. Just in case, there's some money as well.'

'Thanks.' How did she managed to get a fake ID in just a… you know what, forget about it.

So, I entered the classroom together with Shirley and Kallen, which kind of attracted the attention of just every single person inside. Well, I was a student they didn't know and I got inside with two pretty girls, so it was to be expected. I could feel their stares as I sat down in the empty place at the back of the room.

'Alright everyone.' The teacher entered the room and prepared his material for the class to come. 'You must have noticed that we have a transfer student today with us, so I would like for him to come forward and present himself.'

I believe that one of the soulless things you can do to a new student who knows no one in class is to have him go to the front of the class and have him present himself. So, what could a person who had no idea of his tastes and the like could say in such a situation?

When I got in front of everyone, I could spot every single member of the student council aside from Milly: Suzaku and Shirley were looking at me; Nina was looking away even though I had done nothing; and Lelouch and Kallen were… sleeping? She did look pretty down while walking around this huge school…

'My name is Rai… Hodges. It's a pleasure to meet you all.' Being brief should be fine in this situation.

'That's all?' Damn teacher!

'That's all.' I said, preparing to go to my seat.

'Why don't you at least tell us something about a hobby? Or something you enjoy?' Does he expect me to say I enjoy composing lullabies or something?

'I like taking naps.' Couldn't he be satisfied with just that.

'You are not taking this seriously, are you?'

'I'm being completely serious right now… without a doubt, sir.' I said, getting irritated on my own side.

'Go take a seat then!' He probably thought it wouldn't be worth to discuss about it.

For the entire day, I watched the classes together with the other students and much to my surprise, I was able to absorb the contents quite easily. Maybe I am one of those fast learners, but I had no way to actually know because of my problem. By the time classes ended and lunch period came, the rest of the student council guided me to the cafeteria.

It had a small variety of meals available, but Rivalz told me they were all Britannian meals, which bothered me for some reason. Either way, I ate it all with taste since I had no idea what my preferences were in the first place. Afterwards, Milly appeared to give me a more detailed tour of the terrains. The school had a small chapel that was barely used according to Milly and a clubhouse too, where the Student Council Room was located.

'Get used to this room, because this is where you will be living for the time being.'

'Is that even allowed?'

'You are a special student, so we can't have you in a normal dorm room. But you don't have to worry about being lonely, because Lelouch and Nunnaly also live here.'

'Do they now?'

'Nunnaly uses a wheelchair, so living in a common dormitory might be too difficult for her, so Grandfather granted the two of them permission to live here.'

'I think Lelouch may not like the fact I will live near his little sister…'

'A dog that barks won't bite, don't worry.' For some reason, I couldn't think of Lelouch as being capable of only barking. 'Alright, this one here is your room. I will give you the key for it and will keep a reserve in case something happens, alright.'

'Thank you.' I nodded to her in respect before opening the room to check on it.

The room was simply furnished with a bed, a work desk with a computer, a simple wardrobe that was mostly empty and a small round table near it, with two chairs. A large window dominated the wall opposite the door, with a nice view of the gardens when the curtains were opened. Overall, I was grateful to have a ceiling above my head, so it being in a good place was an extra. After a while, I heard someone knocking on the door.

'Yes?' I was hoping to see Milly, but instead of her I see Lelouch in front of me.

'So this is where you will be living from now on.' He said, entering the room without asking permission.

'Yes…' I had to be careful around that guy.

'Sorry about barging in like that, but I would like to have a few words with you… concerning my sister.'

'Alright.' I show him I hadn't forgotten manners by offering him a chair at the table. 'So, what's this about?'

'Nunnaly she… she can't see.' That surprised me, because I thought she couldn't walk only. 'That makes her ears far more sensitive than a normal person's, so you may surprise her without noticing. I want to ask you to just be careful around her, okay?'

Despite anything I felt and thought about the guy, I could see he truly loved his sister. Everything in his body was showing these feelings for her, so I was caught off guard by it.

'Don't worry, I will be careful to not bother her.'

'I would be thankful.'

They were brief words, but it felt like he was analyzing me, as if a predator was checking a potential prey. The tension at the back of my head, the one that was about to make me jump at the slightest sign of danger, vanished entirely once he got out of the room.

'I wonder why I can't relax around him…'

* * *

'So?' C.C looked at Lelouch with some hints of curiosity as soon as he closed the door behind him.

'I had a few words with him under the excuse of being worried about Nunnaly.' He said, sitting at the table and picking up a pawn from the chess board. 'I can't quite read him yet, but I believe he isn't dangerous… at least for now.'

'Why is that?'

'I am 70% sure he truly lost his memories, which could lead to other hazardous situations, but I believe that the best course of action would be for us to keep watching over him for the time being.'

'What if the person he truly is may bring harm to your plans?'

'Then I'll get rid of him… or use him to suit my needs. Either way, we must wait a bit and assess the situation a little better.'

'I will keep an eye on him.' The green-haired woman smiled while changing her position on the bed. 'I'm a bit interested on this young man myself.'

'Because he could be someone like you?'

'That too. But mostly because he is interesting.'

* * *

For several minutes I had been staring at the ceiling on top of me (I know I do that a lot, but it was mostly because I had no memories to think about in the first place) before finally getting up. After changing clothes to my uniform, I went to the kitchen Milly had shown me before and found Lelouch in there, cooking.

'Didn't know you could cook.' He clearly wasn't expecting me, because he tensed up before turning around to face me.

'You know… when I said you should be careful yesterday… I didn't mean for you to turn into a ghost.'

'Sorry about that.' I didn't even notice I was being that quiet. 'Making breakfast?'

'Yeah. I will do some for you too.' He said, going back to his task.

'Can I help?'

'Sure.' He said, not looking away from the eggs he was preparing. 'Get the tea ready.'

I managed to find out that Lelouch is a really obsessed cook. No, really, the guy measures the amount up to three decimals, for God's sake! I kind of gave up on helping him after a while and instead went to the dining room. There I saw a girl that should have been Nunnaly and a maid at her side.

'Brother?' The girl called out, turning her head to me, her eyes closed.

'It's not master Lelouch, Lady Nunnaly. It's the new resident, Master Rai.'

'Oh…' She blushed a little bit. 'I'm sorry for my mistake, Rai.'

'No problem…'

The air was considerably awkward for a while, a strange silence filling the room. Nunnaly was folding papers into birds, something that got my attention for some reason. I kept watching her doing it diligently, molding the flat piece of paper into a different shape.

'Want to try it?' The maid asked me after a while.

'Oh…' I was caught a bit by surprise by her question. 'Sure… hum…'

'Sayoko.' She said, handing me a piece of paper. 'I'm Sayoko, master Rai.'

'Sorry…'

Much to my surprise, my hands moved on their own, my mind unable to truly know what I was doing, but somehow knowing I was doing it right. I don't know how to explain it without sounding weird, but… at the end, I was holding some kind of flower in my hands.

'Master Rai… I didn't know you could do origami.' Sayoko said with a warm smile.

'Origami?' So that's what this is called. 'I didn't know Britannians had such a hobbie.'

'It's not a Britannian custom. It's Eleven.'

'Eleven…?' I blushed a bit for not knowing what looked like a trivial piece of information.

'That's how the native citizens of Area 11 are called. I'm also one of them.'

'Quite a strange name for a country…'

'It's not exactly a country, but rather a dominion of Britannia.' Sayoko explained to me while I tried my hand at a second sheet of paper. 'It used to be an independent country called Japan, though.'

I could imagine what most likely happened: Britannia must have conquered the land known as Japan. In fact, I had history classes just the day before talking about Britannia's conquers.

'Still…' I said, looking at another finished flower. 'Curious… I didn't know I could do it.'

'That's a cherry blossom, a very traditional flower in Area 11.' Sayoko seemed to approve of the delicate construct.

'You did a flower?' Nunnaly sounded interested. 'Can I check it?'

I passed the fragile petals to her, taking care to not disassemble it. Somehow, it suited Nunnaly greatly, as it was pretty while a bit fragile-looking. She looked mesmerized by the touch of the paper, passing her slender fingers all across its shape, with such care to not ruin the thing.

'It's beautiful.' She said, smiling kindly at me. 'I wish I could do something that pretty.'

'It's pretty easy.' If I could do it without remembering how to, it had to be… right?

'Can you teach me?' She spoke it with such hope in the voice…

'Sure…' I said, before every nerve in my body tensed up, a cold fear running through my neck.

'The food is ready.' Lelouch said, carrying the tray by himself.

'Let me help you, Master Lelouch.' Sayoko spoke in the same dutiful manner as before.

'I would appreciate it.'

Nunnaly was a very polite and kind girl, speaking with me about how she learned how to make tsurus (the bird-shaped folding). She told me that when you make a thousand, you can ask for a wish. She laughed a bit and she seemed like a very nice girl. I tried to be careful while under the piercing gaze of her brother, who kept staring at me the whole time.

'Hey…' Apparently, washing the dishes was his job while Sayoko would get Nunnaly ready for school, so I ended up helping him. 'Thanks.'

'For what?'

'There aren't many people that Nunnaly is capable of talking so easily. She doesn't have many friends her age and with that body of hers, she can't truly lead a normal life. Seeing her so… happy brings me great joy.'

'You are welcome…' I said, before laughing a little bit, covering my mouth with my soapy hand.

'What?'

'After everything the president told me about you… I was half-expecting you to chop my head off if I looked at your sister.'

'I'm not that irrational.' He sighed with a troubled face. 'Frankly, what kind of impression she is giving about me…'

'There's still quite the time before class.' I commented when we finished.

'Then how about a bit of fun?' Lelouch smiled in a strange way.

'How so?'

'A game of chess. A quick one, just so we can know each other better.'

'Sounds good.'

* * *

'How come both of you got here late?' Shirley was looking at Lelouch and me with irritated eyes. 'The teacher was livid, you know?'

'We know…' Or rather, our ears know.

The truth was simple: what was supposed to be a quick and friendly game of chess turned up into a battlefield of extreme proportions. To be able to truly face Lelouch, I had to think about how he would move his pieces several turns ahead and create an even greater number of strategies to bring him down. At the end, we got two victories each after a pretty bloody skirmish between a valiant pawn and a stubborn rook.

'Getting late in the second day… must be some record.' Rivalz spoke in his usual tone.

'Shut up.' I hid my face in my arms. 'It just happened alright?'

Aside from that unhappy incident, classes went on just like the day before. Milly told me I should use the day to take a walk in the settlement to see if any memory would trigger (she was going to ask Kallen to do that, but she didn't go to school that day, so I had to do it alone). I was already at the school gate when I heard Suzaku calling out to me.

'What's up?' I greeted him as he approached.

'I'm fine, but what about you? Is there anything bothering you?'

'No, I'm good.' I was a little taken back by the sudden question. 'Why?'

'I was a bit worried when you weren't in class this morning. If there's anything happening, don't worry about asking for help.'

'Thanks, I appreciate it.'

Suzaku was one of those really diligent people that couldn't rest while people around were in trouble. That was the impression I got from him at the very least. He was also easy to get along with, as he wasn't a happiness engine, nor closed, nor disturbingly shy, nor quiet and not… I don't know how to accurately describe Rivalz. Enthusiastic, perhaps?

'Not that long ago, I transferred here myself, so I want to help you… although you are in a much worse situation than I was.'

'Thanks anyway.'

* * *

Sitting down on a bench, warming myself up in the sun with an ice cream in my hand may be among the best feelings in the world. I didn't get to remember anything and the sweet stuff was mostly to forget about it (what a bad pun…). Anyhow, I was minding my own business when a young woman was walking nearby, a small child that should probably be her son running around with a black cloth around his neck.

'I am Zero! Fear now, Britannia!'

'Stop!' She took a quick glance at me, her eyes showing an uneasy feeling. 'We can't do this! Not after becoming Honorary Britannians!'

According to what I could gather, Honorary Britannians are Japanese (or Elevens) that became citizens of the Empire. I couldn't see much of a difference between the treatment the Britannians gave to them and apparently they are also treated pretty harshly by their countrymen. And Zero and his Order of the Black Knights wasn't getting it any better either.

I could understand where they were coming from; having witnessed the poor treatment the Elevens receive in just a short walk to the park. Relations between conqueror and conquered just keep getting worse, sometimes they go out of control like that.

I decided to keep walking around the settlement for a while, try to figure out some clue when the inevitable happened: I got myself lost. I had no idea where I was or where I was supposed to go. Walking around more only got myself in a worse situation, to the point where I had to simply give up from trying on my own.

'Of course there's no signal…'

'Rai? What are you doing here?' I turn around to find a familiar face dressed in an unfamiliar manner.

'Suzaku? What the…?'

'It's my uniform.' He noticed my puzzled look at his clothes. 'I work for an engineering division at the Royal Army.'

'I didn't know you were a soldier.' Strangely enough, that new piece of information didn't trigger my instincts like Lelouch did.

'The reason why an Honorary Britannian like me can attend Ashford Academy is mostly because of my work.'

'That's true… you are Japanese.' I said while something curious happened: he showed a surprised expression. 'What?'

'Nothing, it's just… there aren't many people who use that word anymore.' He said, smiling warmly. 'It's… nice to hear it now and then.'

'Glad to be of help.' I said, looking at where we were. 'Listen… could you tell me how to get back to Ashford? I'm a bit… lost here.'

'You look like a really smart person, but sometimes you can be a bit of an airhead.' I couldn't deny that. 'I can take you there if you want. I'm going the same way.'

'Thanks.' When he offered me his help, I didn't thought I would receive it so soon.

'Anyway, what were you doing so far from the school?'

'I tried walking around to see if I would recall something, but nothing happened.' I must have sounded really frustrated at the moment.

'Without knowing anything, it's a bit hard to actually find anything.'

'Yeah…'

'You know… why don't you come to my workplace tomorrow?'

'Isn't it an engineering section?'

'Yeah, but my boss designs Knightmares, so he must know a bit about the nervous system and the brain. Maybe he can do something to help. At least, we can have them analyze your blood to find out at least a bit about who you are.'

'Nothing to lose, I guess.' I said, right before we arrive at the gates. 'Thanks.'

'We can go after class tomorrow. I'll talk with Milly, so don't worry about it.' He said, before offering his hand to me.

'Thanks again.' We shook our hands firmly. 'See you tomorrow then.'

* * *

'Understood.' Zero said, dismissing the two members of the Black Knights who gave the report. 'Speak with Ohgi about the schedule for tomorrow.'

'Yes sir!' They spoke before leaving.

'You sound distant.' C.C said to Lelouch as he took off his mask of Zero.

'Been thinking about something.' He said, looking at the pawn at the edge of the board. 'Each day that passes, Rai turns more interesting.'

'How so?'

'In my whole life, only my brother Schneizel has ever defeated me in chess… in fact, I never won against him. This man, Rai, was able to get a draw, two victories each, when I tested him under the pretext of "having fun". I was surprised when he didn't falter and actually pushed forward.'


	3. Chapter 3

'Finally… thank you, o Lord!'

I literally slammed my face on the table from tiredness, my arm numb and lifeless hanging at my side. It was a terrifying class of willpower and might, one I could now say proudly I left, scarred and traumatized. One day, when stories are told about this day to the children, my name shall be immortalized in the annals of mankind's history…

'Here we go.' Smiling happily, Milly mercilessly made the whole table shake under the massive weight of a fourth documents' pile.

'Are you kidding me?!' I nearly flipped the table and the only thing stopping me from doing it was the papers weighting it down too much. 'I can't do all of this on my own!'

'Sorry!' She bowed down and clapped her hands together. 'Rivalz and Suzaku are working and I can't find the girls or Lelouch anywhere. You had to save me, since you are my only hope!'

'How often does that happen?' I had a shiver down my very soul while trying to force my dead arm to reach for the pile.

'More than it should.' She sounded a bit dejected. 'I'm sorry about this… and for making you miss your date.'

'It wasn't a date! Suzaku invited me for some tests at his workplace!' Please don't say anything that could cause a misunderstanding.

With an herculean effort and a sigh coming from the depths of my very soul, I reached for another paper. Broken and about to give up, this brave soldier endured more of the harsh combat against the papers, writing one word after the other, deflecting the mistakes that would force me to start over again and moving forward when they inevitably happened.

The sheer repetitiveness of the task, writing the same basic thing over and over again started to cause psychological traumas as well. My weakened and battered mind started to wander to strange and dark places, hidden away at the corners of my brain. No, I didn't remember anything by it, but I became strangely imaginative… to say the least.

Outside, a bright blue sky was inviting me over, the shadow of a tree where I could close my eyes and enjoy an afternoon nap. In the state I was, if I were to simple do that, an eternal slumber would fall upon me… then only a kiss of true love would wake the prince up! As the person approached, I felt the warm touch on my lips, opening my eyes only to find Lelouch looking at me.

'I need you, Rai…'

'Lelouch…'

'WHAT THE FUCK!?' I suddenly rise, scaring Milly who was sitting right in front of me.

'What's wrong?'

'Did I… sleep?'

'Yes, you did. Since you did nearly all the work on your own, I decided to let you.'

'Thanks…'

'Anyway, what happened in your dream? It must have been a dreadful nightmare to make you come back so quickly.' She gave me an interested look.

'It was… awful, yeah.' I decided to take that to my coffin, never to be shared with anyone.'

'Well, at least that woke you up completely.' She said, getting up from the chair. 'Anyway, you don't have anything else to… AAAAHHH!'

'President!' I got up myself to check her situation when I froze over in the spot.

'I'm fine.' She said, not realizing the precarious situation she found herself in. A full-fledged vision of the forbidden land was bare for me to see, getting my face a bit warm. 'What's wrong?'

'You should… close your legs.' I said, looking away from her, the image already burned in my mind.

'Oh…' I saw a rare vision that day: Milly blushing, even if just a bit.

'Yeah.' I help her to get up. 'Sorry?'

'For what? It was an accident, so you don't have to say anything.' She patted my shoulder with her hand. 'Anyway, you can go now, it's almost night anyway.'

'Thanks.' I said, the image of white and green stripes carved in my mind.

'Oh… and Rai.'

'Yeah?'

'Try not to force your arm more than it already has tonight.' She smiled in a mischievous way.

'I won't.' I had a straight face while saying that. 'Goodbye!'

* * *

'Sorry about that.' I explained to Suzaku why I didn't show up at the place. 'The president sort of kidnapped me before I could go.'

'It's alright.' Suzaku's voice sounded… relieved, for some reason. 'We can go there tomorrow if you want.

'Thanks.' I said, sighing from the fatigue. 'Anyway, see you tomorrow.'

'See you.'

I wondered what the rest of the student council was doing to not do their jobs. I think Shirley had club activities or something like that. Nina was… I couldn't understand her no matter how hard I tried. Rivalz and Suzaku were working, but the greatest mysteries were certainly Lelouch and Kallen. They weren't in any club and had no job, so where the heck did they always sneak to? There was also they sleeping most of the time in class, as if they didn't do it during the night… maybe I was reading too much into it.

'Hum… Rai?'

'Yes?' I opened my door to find Nunnaly waiting behind it.

'Would you like to dine with me? My brother hasn't arrived yet and it would be too lonely all by myself?'

'Where is Sayoko?'

'She had to take care of some personal things tonight, so…' She sounded uncertain.

'Don't worry.' Somehow, I felt like patting her head. 'I will be honored to spend time with you.'

So, we just chatted the whole dinner (Sayoko left it for the three of us already) and then she asked me to teach her how to do the sakura flower with origami. I tried some other shapes with the pieces of paper and discovered I knew quite a lot of them. But I would always return to the flowers. They were beautiful, but filled with some… sadness, I supposed.

'I wish I could see them.' She was smiling with certain bitterness while passing her delicate fingers over the shaped papers.

'Maybe one day you will.'

'I would like to see that.' She smiled so beautifully that I couldn't stop myself from doing it as well.

That was when it happened: a sharp pain between my eyes and a blurry vision of a person with long hair in front of me. It was just for an instant, less than a short breath, but it was enough. Tears came to my eyes as I stared at the table in complete shock.

'Rai? Are you alright?' Nunnaly somehow felt something was wrong.

'I… think I remembered something.' I was shaking by then.

'What is it?' She sounded happy for me, truly happy.

'A person… a girl, I think. Long black hair and… a feeling of sorrow. Thinking of her makes me… sad.' I tried to clean my face, but they wouldn't stop coming from my eyes. 'They… won't stop… the tears.'

Nunnaly didn't say a word while touching my face with her small hand. It was a warm little thing, almost as frail as glass. But I knew that great strength was behind it, together with kindness. I just stayed there, shedding tears and unable to think of the reason for that.

Later, I put Nunnaly at her bed and stayed there until she slept. Watching the young girl sleeping filled me with a weaker misery than the one from before. Covering her body better, I closed the door behind me only to find Lelouch staring at me, his expression displaying no emotion.

'Thanks.'

'For what?'

'I haven't been able to stay by Nunnaly's side much lately, so I was worried she would get sad. It's… good to know she has at least someone.'

'Wasn't you the one who got all suspicious over me?'

'I… may have been too harsh in my judgement.' He blushed a little bit. Just a bit.

'True enough.' I laughed at his expression. 'I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight.'

'Rai, may I ask you something?'

'What is it?'

'What do you think of Zero and his Black Knights?'

'Why?' That question suddenly raised my instincts.

'Just curiosity.'

What did I think of them? Truth be told, I hadn't thought much about them, aside from the moments where I actually heard people discussing their actions. They have been attacking several criminal groups since they revealed themselves during the hijacking of a hotel some time before, earning the support of the lower population. Elevens, or Japanese if you will, were said to be the major supporters of their activities, as well as its members.

'I believe they are doing what they believe is correct. From what I saw these days, I can understand why they would do such a thing, but I can't say if they are correct or not.'

'I see… so you prefer a more neutral approach?'

'Well… some people may not see it like that, though.'

'Indeed… thanks for going along with my weird request. Good night.'

I never thought Lelouch would be interested in the political affairs, but I suppose you can't judge people by their appearances. If that was the case, why did my intuition kept turned on? For some reason, I had the slight suspicion that something else was hidden behind his actions.

* * *

'There we go.' The woman named Cécile Croomy finished taking a few samples of my blood

I managed to avoid being caught by Milly and go along with Suzaku to his workplace, where I met her. She was a fairly attractive woman with an indigo shoulder-length hair and blue eyes. She was also considerably older than Suzaku and (possibly) me, but got along pretty well with the two of us.

They were just simple tests, taking blood and things like that, but they could reveal a lot of things about me. I was actually a bit reluctant to allow someone from the army to get hold of that information, as that distrust I had hadn't gone away, but Suzaku managed to convince me.

'The results should probably be complete in two days.'

'Thanks.' Something caught my eye in the hangar: a white Knightmare.

It wasn't like any other I had seen before: instead of the normal purple or brown color, it had a color scheme of white and blue. Its appearance was more human-like and graceful, being completely different from the ones I had seen by then. I moved in his direction and touched it, feeling the cold steel under my fingers.

'This is the Lancelot, my biggest creation so far.'1 Jumping, I looked at the man dressed as a scientist who suddenly appeared at my side out of nowhere. 'You have a good eye.'

'Hum… who are you?'

'I'm Lloyd Asplund, director of Camelot, a R&D division of the Britannian Army. Suzaku told me about you coming, Rai Hodges.'

'Lloyd, I hope you hadn't forgot how to behave.' Cécile appeared with a tray filled with sandwiches.

'I didn't forget… what are those, Cécile?' Lloyd suddenly looked nervous.

'Some sandwiches I made for our guest. Why don't you pick one?'

'It would be… rude to do so before him.' Lloyd looked at me while slowly getting away. 'Go ahead, dear guest of mine.'

'S-sure…' I have a bad feeling about this…

I picked one of the apparently normal sandwiches from the tray and suddenly felt an ominous presence, like a wolf sitting his fangs at my throat. The way Lloyd ran away made me even more fearful of the future, but Cécile was smiling with such warm that I gathered enough courage and took a bite at it.

Saying that it was awful would be an insult to the fine foods that are awful. It was so terribly bad that I felt like my tongue had committed suicide by the act of touching it. Divergent tastes collided on the inside of my mouth and I nearly spit everything right away. The only thing that stopped me were Cécile's honest and innocent smile, making me swallow the whole thing.

'What do you think?'

'It's… certainly creative…'

'You can have more if you want.'

'Thanks, but… I already had lunch and it would be bad to eat before dinner.'

'Oh, it's no problem. I'll save if so Lloyd can eat later.' Considering how fast he got himself away, I doubted that.

'Sorry about that.' Lloyd once again appeared at my side. 'No one is brave enough to tell her, so…'

'I can imagine.'

'Anyway, would you like to try it?'

'Try what?'

'Piloting a Knightmare, of course! Well, a simulator of one, but you get the idea.'

* * *

'Are you sure about that?' Suzaku was standing at my side while I put the security belt.

'Well… I'm a bit curious about this, so why not? It's not like I have anything to lose from it, right?'

Suzaku started to explain to me how to operate the machine, but much to both our surprises, I knew all of it already. How I don't know, but I did know what each part was supposed to do and how to operate it. That made me think that I had piloted one of those in the past, so maybe…

'Alright Rai, we will start the simulation, alright?' Cécile spoke with me once the cockpit was closed.

'Sure.'

'We'll use a module where you must pass through some ruins while facing several Burais. Then you must move to the abandoned train tracks and defeat the leader platoon. Pretty easy, right?'

'Wait, how many enemies exactly? Lloyd? Hey, don't just go silent!'

The simulation was actually pretty good and realistic, making me wonder how the video games industry was faring if they could do something like that. Anyway, I started moving my frame in what seemed to be an abandoned city, debris all over the place and destroyed buildings providing hiding spots for ambushes. I first thought of finding a less open path to my target, but it seemed like the scenario didn't allow that, so I had to move in the open.

I detected something with the corner of my eye and jumped back, avoiding being filled with holes by enemy fire. Three Burais, an older model of Knightmare, were holding assault rifles and firing at me. I moved my own frame to the side to avoid them, picking up my own gun in the process. Aiming at each of them would give them the chance to avoid my attack, so I fired at the building they were using as cover and smashed all of them in a single swift move.

Not too long after, I found a second group of enemies, who appeared too close to use the rifle, so I went at them with close quarter combat. Two came at once from the front while a third was coming from behind. Making a kind of pirouette, I grabbed the arm of one of the enemies and used his body as a shield from the attack from behind while avoiding the second coming from the front. Still holding the frame, I threw it at the ones who hadn't attack, which would buy me enough time to thrown my slash harkens and eliminate one of the first ones. I parried with my hands the blow from the last original attacker and punched his head, destroying it and sending it to the ground. The two remaining ones came at me from behind, so I once again use the defeated frame as a shield, before pushing forward and smashing the improvised shield and enemy through a building's wall, crashing it on top of both. The last one was a bit more careful, staying out of my reach to avoid getting the same fate. I decided to go on the offensive by kicking the fallen Knightmare's head on him, distracting him long enough for me to go and send my hand through where the pilot should be, a move that would surely kill the one inside.

I had just a second of warning from my intuition before a sniper fired at me from the distance, the bullet making a big hole in one of the fallen enemies. From there I found the position of the enemy in a building nearby, so I quickly made my way there, before he could change his position. With some luck, I discovered his position before he could hide again and fired a rain of bullets upon him, all of them hitting the cover he was using. I didn't care much as I only did it as a distraction so I could approach him in a safer way and then use the knee to hit the chest before joining my hands together to smash his head open. My right arm was damaged to the point of being nearly useless and other parts were pretty messed up too, as they weren't made to deliver direct blows.

Looking at the objectives, I saw that I only had to eliminate the enemy leader to accomplish the mission, which gave me an idea. From where I was, I could see the railroads and a group of six Knightmares on it, so I grabbed the rifle from my fallen enemy and aimed at the one painted in a different color scheme. Compensating for the difference my bent right arm was making in the aim, I shot while relying 60% on skill and the rest on pure dumb luck.

Much to my surprise, it was a direct hit to the cockpit, completely destroying the frame and certainly killing the virtual pilot inside of it. The other enemies went into disarray from the sudden change and I think I wasn't supposed to do that, because some bugs started to appear in the program.

After a while the words "Mission Accomplished" appeared on the screen, making me release the held breath I had locked inside my lungs for a few moments. As the cockpit opened, I noticed I was sweating quite a bit from the intense task I had done. If that thing was accurate, I couldn't imagine how some people could fight for hours inside those things.

Suzaku was dumb folded while looking at me, his mouth wide opened in a surprised gaze. Cécile was also pretty surprised and had a strange look in her eyes, as if she was suspicious of something. Lloyd, on the other hand was literally jumping from joy, giving small jumps while looking at some numbers in a screen.

'Rai… was that the first time you entered a Knightmare? Even a simulator?' Suzaku asked me with some shaking in his voice.

'Yeah… at least since I lost my memories.' Even I was surprised by how… how easy it seemed to be.

'You just… you just got the maximum score for this specific simulation! Only Suzaku ever managed to do that before!' Cécile told me with the same strange tone from before. 'Not just that, but you also found a different way to accomplish the mission, one who wasn't in the program.'

'That's it!' Lloyd said, approaching me and patting me on the shoulder. 'From now on, you work with me.'

'What?!' The three of us look at him at the same time.

'Don't just go ahead and decide for yourself!' Cécile pinched the scientist's ear, making him yell a bit from the pain. 'And you can't hire someone without knowing anything about him! Sorry about that, Rai.'

'No worries…'

'Cécile is right, Mr. Lloyd.' Suzaku was a bit distressed about it. 'At least give him some time to decide!'

'Alright.' Lloyd probably only said that to get his ear away from her grasp. 'So, try to decide in two days and if you say yes, you can just come here with Suzaku.'

'Sure…' I was still shocked by the sudden job proposal when Suzaku scorted me outside.

* * *

'Cécile, come here.' Lloyd called out to his secretary, who was still a bit pissed at how he simply asked Rai to work for them.

'Yes?'

'Take a look at this and tell me what you think.'

'Ah, those are Rai's results from the Sutherland simulation, right?'

'No, these are the results from the Lancelot simulation.' Those words made the woman's eyes go wide open in an instant.

'You put him in the Lancelot! How could…'

'My instincts are never wrong when it comes to my own creations. Just take a look at the compatibility rate and you will see it.'

'92%!? But that's…'

'A rate only Suzaku ever managed to come close before, yes. Even the so-called "elite pilots" employed by Cornelia in her Royal Guard couldn't get even close to 60% thanks to the higher specs of this frame. Also, consider how he easily piloted it despite the supposed burden it should cause in his body and you will understand what I mean by that.'

'Just who is he?'

'I may have an answer to that as well, one that could have serious repercussions.' He opened another window. 'I was curious about his identity myself, so I accelerated the exams a bit and got this result.'

'He… is Half-Britannian with an… Eleven!' Cécile sounded a bit surprised by it. 'Well, that could cause some trouble, but not that… Oh!'

'Now you see how serious it can get?'

'His Britannian side… comes from the Royal Family itself! And from none other than Emperor Charles himself!' Cécile was speechless for several minutes at this reveal. 'This…'

'If this is found out by others…' Lloyd had a small smile on his face. 'Not only it will be a gigantic scandal, but the boy's life will be in grave danger, as whoever is his father will most likely eliminate him.'

'Then…'

'If he comes and work under me, this data can be "forgotten" quite easily, but otherwise…

'Don't you even dare think of that!' Cécile almost yelled at Lloyd.

'Just joking.' He was being serious. 'Well, it all depends on him whether he joins us or not.'

* * *

'What's wrong, Rai?' Lelouch and I were playing chess and drinking a bit of tea after dinner. 'You are pretty quiet tonight.'

'It's nothing.' I shook my head before moving the bishop. 'Just thinking about some things.'

'Such as?'

'Hum… while I was doing some tests with Suzaku, I found out I had some… talents.' For some reason, I couldn't tell him what talents those were. 'And I am wondering how I got them'

'Are they that uncommon?' Lelouch had enough sensibility to not probe it any further than that.

'You could say that.' I sighed, looking at the pieces on the board. 'And I received a proposal to work there with them, in the same position of Suzaku.'

'That's… interesting.' There was a strange glow on his eyes when I revealed that to him.

'I am not sure if I should accept it.'

'Why is that?'

'I have… a bad feeling about the army.' I ended up confessing to him after a long silence. 'I don't trust them.'

'Could they have something to do with your past?'

'Perhaps. There could be any other reason too, but I don't know about them.' I must have looked dejected there.

'Rai, I can't make the decision for you, nor can Milly, Suzaku or anyone else. This type of thing… must be decided by you alone.'

'So, give me advice, not what I should do.'

'Very well…' He closed his purple eyes for some time before answering. 'Rai, I think you should consider all your possibilities before deciding. Think of it as our games of chess: what would be the best course of action to make a difference?'

'Make a difference?'

'Sometimes, a choice that could change the world comes to us and we must make it. How the world ends up after that will depend on that very choice we made.'

'I don't think this one is that important…'

'Who knows? You never know what tomorrow has in store for us.'

In the end, we kept the draw, with four victories each.

* * *

'Hey, Rai!' Suzaku called out to me while I was walking around the settlement on my own. 'What are you doing here?'

'Milly asked me to buy her a few things.' I said, showing him the list. 'But the store she told me to get them is closed for today, so I have to go back tomorrow. And you?'

'Lloyd told me to do a few errands for him.' Suzaku looked down. 'So… did you think about the offer?'

'Yes, I did.'

'And?'

'I don't know.'

'I see…' He raised his head and looked at me with fiery eyes. 'Then, could you come with me for a little bit?'

He guided me to a more desolate part of the city, to the Eleven's ghettos. It was the same scenery as from the simulation I did just the day before, but in a real place. The few people we saw were the living image of misery and some even tried to hide themselves when we passed by them. We stopped by several what seemed to be improvised graves, a vision that horrified me.

'What… what is this?'

'This is what was left of Tokyo after Britannia invaded Japan ten years ago.' He said, looking at some of the graves with toys on them. 'And the reason why I joined the army.'

'What do you mean?'

'You see, I want to change the world into a better one. One where these things never happen again. After thinking for a while, I realized I had to do it from the inside of the system that is wrong and to do so I had to become part of Britannia. A Number would never become a true citizen of the Empire, but in the military, there are some cases of them rising up pretty high in the ranks. I thought… that I could do it as well…'

Saying that was a naïve point of view was a bit of an understatement, to say the very least. I had known Britannia's way for just a few days, but I could see it was quite unfair with people from the outside. And from what I had seen from history, it had always been like that, so Suzaku's wish would most likely…

'I know it's naïve to think of that. Maybe I am just a dreamer who can't stop thinking all people are good by nature.' He said, looking at my eyes for a moment. 'But I found someone who thinks in a similar way, that Britannia should be changed from the inside. That person… I own a lot to her, because she is the one who got me to go to school and meet everyone… and you.'

'Suzaku…'

'I just wanted you to know this so you think about it a little more. I know how big the challenge ahead will be and how difficult my life may become, but… it would be good if I had someone at my side.'

For a second, my instincts yelled that Suzaku was saying those things just to manipulate me, make me do what he wanted. But these thoughts were quickly silenced for the single reason of him being truly honest. I just knew that he wasn't lying or manipulating me, but rather sharing his views and wishes in an honest manner.

'I'm not sure...' I sighed a bit. 'Look, I will think about it and… give you an answer by tomorrow, alright?'

'Sure.'

'Thanks.'

We started to walk back to the academy (Camelot was in the same direction) when something unusual happened: we heard a woman screaming in what seemed to be an abandoned alley. The way it happened, it seemed like she was being attacked by someone.

'Stay here!' Suzaku yelled and ran to investigate.

'Okay.' When I was all on my own, I noticed that aside from me, the room was apparently empty. Then I felt something coming from my back. 'What…?'

I got back while raising my leg and delivered a powerful kick to the man trying to grab me from behind, hitting his head and knocking him down. There were three others behind him, all wearing the uniform of the Black Knights. Only one of them was armed with a police baton, looking at me with surprise in his voice.

'What are you waiting for?' The one with the baton spoke to the other two. 'Grab him as Zero told us to do!'

Zero ordered them to get me? Why? Could that man know something about my past? Maybe if I go with them, I could find some answers… No, I won't risk my life over it. I can live without memories (as frustrating as that may be), but I won't have any memory if I die, will I?

The biggest of them tried to come at me like a raging bull, but I was a lot quicker than him, delivering precise blows to his throat, chest and stomach that sent him down on the ground, gasping for air. I moved slightly to the side to avoid the second attacker's arms and then used my knee to hit him in the stomach before delivering a blow from my elbow at the back of his neck. The other one tried to be smarter and grabbed a bit of sand from the ground and threw at me, but I had closed my eyes way before and used sound to guess where he was coming from, kicking him so strongly that I sent him flying. Only the leader remained, who yelled and attacked me in anger with the baton. I used his own momentum and dropped him on the ground by grabbing his arm. To restrain him, I put my foot over his throat, making it hard for him to breath and showed I was physically superior to him.

'What does Zero want with me?' I release some of the pressure. 'Answer!'

'Go… to… Hell!' He said, pulling a handgun from his back.

It all happened in an instant: I moved to the side while kicking the arm holding the gun, slightly changing the path of the bullet. Even so, I felt it passing really close to my head, the air it moved harshly touching my skin. Had I been a single moment delayed, I would probably be dead. I dropped on top of him and slammed his arm several times on the ground, forcing him to release the gun and then punched his face with the sound of a solid thing breaking.

'You bloke my noshe!'

'You tried to shoot me, so we are even.' I couldn't believe myself how calm I was. 'Why Zero sent you after me?'

'I ain't thelling you shit!'

'Fine, have it your way.' I got up from the ground and looked at them. 'Let the military have its way with your kind.'

'Rai!' Suzaku appeared, sweating from running. 'Thank goodness! When I heard the gunfire, I got real worried!'

'I'm fine' I told him, right before I felt a shiver down my spine.

I avoided it almost entirely. Almost, because the bullet fired from the second attacker grazed my side. Suzaku reacted quickly and subdued him too while I went on my knees. Despite not entering my body, it was still quite painful to be shot at.

'Rai!'

* * *

'I'm fine already!' I was starting to get irritated with Suzaku's attitude.

'Don't care.' He was sitting at my side in a wooden chair. 'Until the doctor comes back and say that himself, you are not leaving this place.'

In panic, Suzaku called Cécile and asked for help, which she gave in the form of a discreet hospital with a doctor she knew. She told Suzaku to not let me go to a normal hospital or to go to the police, which was strange when you think about it. Anyway, the doctor examined me and bandaged me a bit. He said it wasn't that serious, but that I had lost a bit of blood and had to rest there for a few hours. That just served as a source of stress for both me and Suzaku, who was angry out of his mind.

'Those Black Knights! Are they resorting to kidnapping people out of the street now? And in plan daylight!'

'Calm down.' I said, resting my back against the pillows. 'It wasn't so bad.'

'You were shot!'

'The bullet just grazed the skin a bit.'

'You were too pale when we got here!'

'Stop worrying so much.' I said, looking out of the window. 'What worried me wasn't the fact that I almost died, but what I did.'

'What do you mean?'

'Suzaku, how many people do you know can take down four attackers coming at him from behind? I doubt there are that many and I bet they have some training at it. So, not just I am a talented Knightmare pilot, but I also know enough hand-to-hand combat to do that kind of damage. Apparently, Zero wanted me for some reason, so considering everything…'

'He may know something about your past.'

'Exactly. Maybe… I knew him before he became Zero and he wants to silence me? He may even know who I was before losing my memories… heck, he may even be responsible for that!'

'You are right. So, what…'

Just at that moment, the door to the room was burst opened and a legion of people rushed in, nearly falling to the ground: the people from the Student Council, with Nunnaly following behind with Sayoko. I looked at Suzaku, who looked away with a guilty look.

'You…'

'I was in panic!'

'What do you mean you were shot!?' Milly grabbed me by the shoulders. 'Suzaku said you were almost kidnapped!'

'I'm fine, really…' But Milly suddenly raised my shirt, revealing the spot covered by bandages. 'Hey!'

'So this is where it happened? Is it still inside? If you need it, I can have grandfather…'

'Let him breath, president.' Rivalz was serious for once. 'He seems alright, aside from what happened.'

'What exactly happened?' Lelouch was pale and I could detect some hidden anger in his words.

'I…' Looking at Nunnaly, I wondered if I should have spoken about that in front of her.

'Don't worry.' Nunnaly said, guessing why I was hesitating. 'Just tell us what happened.'

I describe what happened to them in details, with a few modifications: in my story, it was Suzaku who defeated the thugs and not me. He didn't say a word about this change and actually confirmed things in a way that suited my story.

'Why would the Black Knights go after you?' Shirley was asking in a worried tone.

'No idea.'

'You know… I thought they weren't so bad, but now…'

'There must be something wrong.' Lelouch whispered more to himself than anything else.

'I really don't know the reason.'

'Whatever it may be, we'll have to get a better security around the school.' Milly said, worried. 'I'll talk with grandfather about it.'

'But…'

'You don't worry about a thing.' Milly said, giving me her usual smile. 'Alright?'

Could it be that… she knew I was planning to leave the place, just to be safe? I never found out if that was the case or not, but I was grateful for what she did the same way. Later, after I was discharged, I kept thinking about the events of the day and Lloyd's proposal. I still held a strong distrust against the army, but maybe, just maybe…


	4. Chapter 4

'You imbecile!' Zero was livid with Tamaki, one of the earliest members of the Black Knights.

'I-It's not my fault they screwed up!'

'Tamaki, I thought that a simple task like that, bringing a potential recruit for a talk was one that even you wouldn't fail!' Zero sounded about to punch the man in the face. 'And what do you do? You ordered him kidnapped!'

'But you said…'

'What were my exact words?'

'I…'

'What. Where. My. Exact. Words!?'

'Well, you…'

'Tamaki, do I need to use crayons and make you a picture? I asked you my very exact words, or are you so mentally inferior that you can't even remember something I told you just a few hours ago?'

Some other members of the Black Knights who joined together with Tamaki such as Kaname Ohgi or Kent Sugiyama were around, but even them paled under their leader's rage. There was also the fact Tamaki did screw up badly, as even Ohgi couldn't understand where he got the idea of kidnapping the man Zero wanted.

'Bring this man to us and make sure he doesn't find out our hideout or identities.'

'And?'

'He may become a valuable member of the Black Knights, so make sure…'

'Make sure to get him _unharmed_!' Zero finished the sentence with a cold tone, the pronunciation particularly harsh at the last word. 'And what did you do? You and the other men you got, my men, tried to kidnap him! I even told you of a way to convince him to come, didn't I? What did I say?'

'To tell him… that we could help him with his problem…'

'Exactly! He is a gifted individual beyond a normal man's capabilities, and a genius compared to someone like you! So, he would have understood immediately what you meant and, most likely, followed you here.'

'But he was the one who attacked us!'

'Of course he attacked you, idiot! You tried to kidnap him in the middle of the day! What was he supposed to do, accept his fate? I said he could be a potential member, didn't I? Have you even wondered why? Do you think I would go to such lengths for an ordinary individual? Couldn't you use that tiny little mind of yours to realize that, if I wanted him here to join us, there could be a reason?'

'Well…'

'And you found out the worst possible way: not just he beat you all up like it was nothing, but he also broke your nose! You all are lucky that the police wasn't called or you would most likely be in a torture chamber right now, instead of here, being yelled by me!'

'What did you expect me to do?'

'Tamaki… have you ever heard of talking to someone? No, I suppose not, or you would have done this very thing! Why did you tried to use force instead of your bloody mouth? Is that so hard for someone like you?'

'No, but… it seemed easier to just grab him…'

'And what part of that included shooting him in the head?'

'But…'

'But? BUT!? I gave you very specific and explicit orders! I wasn't hiding my intentions from you when I said I wanted him in the same natural state you found him, without a single bruise! Let's say I forgive your incompetence in bringing him here, which I won't, do you believe I will do it for such a direct order?'

'Are you serious?'

'Yes, I'm serious! I've never been more serious in my life.' He stopped talking for a few tense moments, when it seemed like no one was breathing in the room. 'You are forbidden to go out in the field. You will lose any and all rank you have and will be tasked with cleaning the hideout.'

'You can't do this!'

'Oh, can't I? If you are not satisfied with the way I lead the Black Knights, you are free to leave, knowing what I will do to you if you spill even a words related to us. You made a monumental mistake here and do you expected me to say it is okay, that it was just a silly blunder?'

'I was in this group even before you!'

'And now you follow _my_ orders. Not Ohgi's, not Kozuki, but mine. You agreed to this when I formed the Black Knights, didn't you? So you _will_ do as I say or you can simply leave right now.'

'You know…' Ohgi was trying to find the right words to say.

'Do you believe I was too harsh?'

'Maybe, but we chose you to be our leader and to abide by your decisions. I'm just wondering if… this man is worth this much.'

'Ohgi, do you believe me a good strategist?'

'Well, yes I do.'

'This man possesses skill on par or even superior to me on that field. We think alike when it comes to planning, but have enough differences to have fresh views from one another. Considering this, I believe it is crucial to get him to our side.'

'I see.' It impressed the young man to hear his leader talking so highly about someone.

'Of course, Tamaki's actions made it a lot more difficult, nearly impossible, now. Not just that, but word goes around that the Black Knights, the supposed knights of justice, are taking innocents out the streets, our reputation may suffer a severe blow.'

'I'll talk to him, see if I can cool his head off.'

'Make it clear that it isn't a permanent situation. If he proves himself to me, reflecting on his own actions, he will get a better position. But make it clear that I will always have second thoughts about giving him more responsibilities and that I won't tolerate any mistakes.'

'Understood.'

* * *

'All that's left is for you to sign… here.' Lloyd pointed to a place in the paper I was handed.

'So, when do I start?' I got used to my fake signature after working so much at the student council.

'Immediately.'

'That's fast. Isn't a lot of bureaucracy involved with something like that?'

'We are an irregular unit, so it's a lot easier.'

In the end, I joined Camelot. Suzaku's speech to me yesterday was a huge factor for it, but the main reason were the Order of the Black Knights' kidnapping attempt. Zero could know something about my past and the safest way to find that one out was to be in the Military. And despite my instincts telling me to not trust them even for a second, I trusted Suzaku.

'Let's discuss what we found out about you from the exams.'

'Alright.'

'First things first: I must apologize from any and all inadequate behavior… your highness.'

'What?' Both me and Suzaku, who was standing right behind me the whole time, spoke at the same time.

'It appears you have blood ties to the Royal Family… with Emperor Charles himself, actually.'

'This…'

'However, there is one little problem… one of your parents was a number, an Eleven actually. That not just makes you a half-breed, but also makes you a serious political and social problem to the Empire.'

That was a way to put it mildly, at the very least. From what I could see from the way Britannians acted against Numbers, being a half-breed probably wasn't the greatest thing in the world. And the fact I had royal blood made it even worse, raising more dangerous questions about my identity. If that was to leak out to anyone, things would get ugly and quickly.

'I was actually thinking to use this information to… "convince" you to join us, but it seemed like I was worried for… OUCH!' His assistant delivered a powerful punch on the top of his head.

'Had you said that, I would rip your head off.' I thought for a second I could see a devil behind Cécile.

'A-Anyway! Your new work will be simple: here at Camelot, we develop new technologies to be applied to future models of Knightmares, so we need people to pilot them. However, using these prototypes makes them difficult to handle, so we must have suitable people to test them.'

'Yeah, I know. It was in the contract I just signed.' I read it carefully.

'In my experience, people rarely pay attention to what they are signing.'

'Speaking from experience is harsh.' Cécile said, making his smile falter for but a moment.

'You'll also need to go in the battlefield and collect real data for us, since we don't have the actual budget to do it the normal way.'

'That's only because you spend all of it with a single new device instead of dividing it among other things.' Cécile's pained expression told a story of suffering…

'Well, now that we got rid of formalities, there's just one thing left.'

* * *

'Cécile… are you sure that you know what you are doing?' I asked her while she was on her knees right in front of me.

'Well, it is my first time doing it, but I will make sure to try my best. How hard can it be?'

'Just be careful to not incidentally hurt me, okay?' I said in a nervous tone as she held my pants with her hands.

'Hey, Rai, Lloyd is… oh, sorry.' Suzaku chose the best moment to enter the room. 'I didn't know you weren't finished.'

'Suzaku, come here and help me.'

'Do you really need help for something like this?' I said, seriously doubting her skills something so trivial.

'Every woman should be able to do such a thing! You know pretty well that a lot of us can do much more, so this must be easy.'

'There are some men who can manage it pretty well. I once saw Lelouch doing it and he was quite good at it.'

'Alright then. Hold it steady here… yes, right here!' She says as Suzaku held the thing. 'Now I can get my hands free.'

Despite of what she was saying, I couldn't believe she was having another person help her with such a simple task. All you had to do was move your hands a bit and it would be over with. Heck, she didn't have to almost none of the tools she picked up, so why was having so much trouble to measure my body?

'Your uniform and pilot suit will be ready in a few days.' Cécile warned me after taking a final note on a small notebook.

'Why did you use those pins when you only measured me?' I said, taking care to take them off without hurting myself.

'Because it looked more professional that way, didn't it?'

'…'

'What?'

'Nothing.' I looked away.

'Well… you can just go home for today. Tomorrow we will start the actual work.'

'Yes ma'am.' I tried to make it more formal by saluting her.

'Before you go.' Lloyd appeared and handed me a bunch of things. 'You should get used to your new fake past.'

'New past?'

'Your surname is fake, isn't it? I'm afraid we will need a bit more than that to not raise suspicious to your peculiar trait. So, I created a whole background for you and even a few references that would explain how you are so good with Knightmares.'

'That's… a lot.'

'Try to read all of it by tomorrow.'

'Tomorrow?'

'Yes. And just mentioning: your status won't be of an unofficial citizen like before. From tomorrow on, you will be a true Britannian citizen, with every single document forged in the right dates and the database.'

'That's… thank you.'

* * *

 _Climbing the side of the ship was easy with the newest technology, gloves that stick to metallic surfaces. Doing so and not being detected by any of the guards passing on the deck was the tricky part of the process. Moving like a shadow, I made my way to my target, whose room was guarded by two strong man carrying military-level assault rifles._

' _Ignore everything that happens inside this room for the next hour.' I passed by then without breaking my pace._

' _Yes, your highness!'_

 _Inside, I saw the target: a middle-age man like any you could find anywhere in the Chinese Federation. He was sleeping deeply on his couch, snoring loudly for anyone to hear. In an adjacent room, I detected three children playing silently, so they didn't wake up the man, probably. It made no difference to me, as I grabbed my combat knife to finish the service._

' _Honey, it's about time for…' A woman suddenly entered the room using the opposite door from where the children were. 'Who…'_

 _I didn't let her speak any further, the knife moving from my hand and lodging itself deep in the middle of her chest. It was strong enough to make her give a few steps back before harshly falling to the ground._

' _P-Please…' I grabbed the handle and pulled it out, making a severe amount of blood gush out. 'My… children…'_

 _Luckily, it wasn't enough to wake the target, so no resistance was given as his throat was slit open. I was moving out of the place when a boy that was in the other room appeared, staring at me in absolute confusion. The directives were to leave no witnesses alive, no exceptions at all. And they were absolute._

 _I made sure to dispatch him quickly, a swift cut at his throat that created a small crimson river down his neck. Moving inside the room, I saw that it was filled with toys scattered all over. One of them gave me a small pause, a teddy bear with a red lace around his neck. Two girls looked at me in confusion for a moment, which turned to horror when they saw the blood on my blade._

 _They ran and yelled, but the room was made in a way that only the guards at the entrance can hear anything from the inside. With them under my command, it is futile to call for help that way. With cold precision, I followed them to what seemed to be their room. The locked door gave little to no resistance when I broke it down and found them hiding under the beds._

 _Grabbing one by the leg and dragging her out made me realize how small and fragile she truly was: couldn't be older than five. This only aided on my work as I carved a red smile under her real one, making the body fall like a ragdoll. Her sister was punching me, trying to save the other one, but she fell to her knees when the once living girl became a corpse._

 _She pushed her, calling for the deceased's name to no avail. A shocked expression was carved when she looked at her tiny little hands, covered in the red of life from the sister. She then looked at me, looming over her and froze over. I saw myself staring down at her on her black eyes. Wearing black clothes and a mask, I resembled the Reaper from the stories. Except I didn't take souls and that my knife was a lot better at dispatching people to the underworld._

 _Cleaning the dirty blade on the fabric covering a dining table, I made my way outside of the slaughterhouse the private chambers became. The guards even greeted me once I stepped out, probably out of habit, before I moved to the outside. It would take several hours, maybe even days, before they discover my work. More than enough time to leave the country safely. Jumping down from the deck's edge, the cold ocean waters were a satisfying gift after a job well done._

* * *

I woke up so suddenly that I managed to fall from the bed, hitting the ground below with a loud sound, hurting my left arm over the process. Shaking like I had never done before, I tried to use the bed as support but my legs felt like jelly and wouldn't obey my commands. It took me several minutes, almost half an hour, to finally get up.

'What… was that?' I said, trying to recall the contents of the nightmare, but only feeling a terrible dizziness down my stomach.

I ran towards the bathroom with everything I had and fell down on my knees and opened the toilet's lid with no time left before everything I ate for dinner came out of my body. Breathing heavily the stinky air coming from the toilet, I tried to recall the dream once more, only for my lunch to join in the fun. Shivers running down my body, I sat down on the floor, my back feeling the cold tiles.

My clothes where sticking to my skin, so wet from my sweat that I took them off to avoid getting a cold. After a time that seemed endless, I rose from the floor and looked at myself in the mirror. It was the figure of pity, drops of dry vomit all over my bare chest, eyes red from all the crying I didn't realized I did and a face of someone who aged ten years in a few minutes.

Grabbing both sides of the sink, I tried to gather my thoughts on what happened without actually remembering what the contents of what I saw where, as my stomach would protest loudly. Whatever it was, it must have been quite the shock to cause such a reaction from my body. Entering the shower, my confused mind got a bit better and I managed to recall bits and pieces of it.

Something about a few children and a ship… were the only things I got aside from a strong headache. Drying myself, I questioned what exactly happened in there and if it had any relation to my past. If it had, what kind of thing would have to happen to trigger such a reaction from me?

* * *

Instead of going to eat lunch with everyone, I went to the rooftop and watched over the skyline, over the settlement of Tokyo. From where I was positioned, I could clearly see the difference between the ghettos where the Japanese fought for survival each and every day and the rich and developed Britannian city, where the citizens lived unaware of the horrible things happening just a short distance away. Or they were aware and didn't care, I don't know.

'Guess who?' Suddenly a soft and warm mass touched my back while my vision darkened.

'President.' Consider the size of the mass, it could only be her.

'You are no fun at all.' She sulked a little bit. 'If it was any of the other boys, they would freak out.'

'Maybe I am just too out of it.' I supported my back against the fence separating the roof from certain death.

'The others told me about it.' She moved to my side, watching over the same view I had. 'A penny for your thoughts.'

'I… may have recalled something from my past.'

'That's great!' The way she sounded so happy hurt me a little. 'What was it? Are you a lost foreign prince? An agent from the Chinese Federation? An alien invader from… Rai?'

'It wasn't very clear but… I think… I think I've done something horrible.' I felt a hot path being carved on my face. 'Involving children and… I have no idea what it was, but… it fills my chest with a feeling of anger and… shame! First the Zero tries to get me for a reason I don't know and now… now this! Maybe… maybe I should…'

'Stop!' Her eyes changed from her usual happy look to a serious and mature one. 'You may have been with us just for just a few days, but I saw how earnestly you worked at the Council; how seriously you attended classes despite not being an "official" student; how happy Nunnaly has been talking about how you were teaching her to fold paper; how even Lelouch has warmed up to you.'

'But…'

'Rai, when I met you, I knew what kind of person you were at just a glance. I don't think you could so something horrible even if you tried. You don't know the whole story from your past, so don't be so quick to judge yourself.'

'Even so…'

'And… who cares?' The way she said it made me look at her blue eyes in a different way. 'I never met that person. The one I met was a caring young man, who works hard for others and tries to be kind to everyone, even to a woman who works him to the bone.'

'President…'

'So, don't even think of getting away from here, okay? That would make Nunnaly cry and Lelouch to hunt you down to the ends of Earth.' I smiled a bit at her comment. 'Rai, whatever happens, I swear I will protect you, from Zero and even Emperor Charles himself!'

'I…' No, that wasn't the right thing to say. 'Thanks… Milly.'

'But you have to promise me something.'

'What is it?'

'Promise me that, no matter what happens, you won't just leave. You will stay here until you recover your memories and, if your suspicious have a foundation, you will start a new life.'

'I… I promise.' I got on my knees, as if she was knighting me. 'I swear, my lady.'

'You may now rise, sir Rai Hodges.' When I got up, we both laughed really hard. 'That was a bit lame.'

'Just a bit.' I was feeling better already. 'Thanks for everything.'

'You're welcome.' She said, approaching my ear, her sweet smell filling my nostrils. 'And just to inform you: today is a black laced one, everything included.'

She just walked away from me, who was frozen from the surprise and shock of the sudden mental image she gave me.

* * *

'Rai, are you ready?'

'Just a second.' I finished closing the zipper of the tight Knightmare suit handed to me.

To pilot the frames more efficiently, the pilots had to wear a special suit that would stick to your body so their movements wouldn't be restricted in any way. The one I was handed was a bit different from the usual ones used by the regular army, being in the colors blue, white and black. I saw Suzaku wearing the same uniform, but with gold instead of the blue.

'I'm finished.'

'I knew blue would suit you the best.' Cécile remarked when she saw me. 'Looks good on you. Must be your eyes.'

'Thanks.' I moved around, checking myself. 'I'm impressed it was done so quickly.'

'Lloyd… wanted you to start as quickly as possible, so he used his status as an Earl to make it go quicker.'

'Lloyd is an earl?' That surprised me a little. 'Hum, he doesn't act like one.'

'I think he only has science in that developed brain of his.'

'So, let's go?'

For the most part, Suzaku and I were going to use simulators to test the possible applications of the prototypes developed by Lloyd. In truth, we would have to do it in the field, but the budget wouldn't allow it. So, I entered the simulator and made all the preparations to start it.

'Rai, this time you won't be using the Lancelot, but rather the modified Sutherland we are preparing for you. It has a better performance from the normal ones, but not the same components as the seventh generation, so be careful on that.' Lloyd gave me these instructions over the radio. 'So, let's show you the new toys you will be using.'

'Understood.'

'First, there's your Maser Vibration Sword, or MVS for short. It uses vibration and heat to cut nearly anything in its path. Yours will be slightly different from the Lancelot, with a longer handle and the possibility of joining them together, making it like a two-bladed lance.'

'I got it.' I tried using it a bit and get the hand of it. 'It's a little strange to wield, but I'll manage.'

'Next we have your modified personal assault rifle. Different from the standard ones, yours can turn into a precision sniper rifle at will. A "sniper mode" can also be activated if you desire, showing greater precision and control at the cost of spending fifteen times more energy from the frame, so be extra careful when using it.'

'Looks alright.' I tested it by firing at a distant rock, five hundreds meter away, and destroying it.

'Like the Lancelot, you have two slash harkens at your forearms and two at the usual places, in the chest area. However, we couldn't find a way to install the Blaze Luminous system on it, so be careful on taking enemy fire.'

'Understood.'

'Now, let's begin the mission.' Cécile changed her tune to a more serious one. 'I will handle support for the mission. Your objective is to retake a convoy taken by rebels in the woods. The total number of enemies is unknown, but there are at least seven of them. Retrieve the cargo and eliminate all hostiles in the area.'

'Roger.'

'Do we know what Knightmares our enemies have?'

'Burais and stolen Sutherlands. They may have a Gloucester as well, but that wasn't confirmed as of now.'

'Yes, my Lord!' We both spoke before starting moving.

'Suzaku, how we should proceed?'

'The chess master here is you, so you tell me.'

'How do you know that?'

'Lelouch is a bit of a sore loser, even if he doesn't notice it.'

'Well… I think we shouldn't just engage them before knowing their numbers. Second, we must figure out a way to coordinate our attack, as we have never worked together. Let's just measure their forces for now.'

We try to move in a slower and quieter pace to not warn them of our coming and soon enough we found them, moving the stolen convoy through a trail in the woods. Three trucks formed the convoy, with three Burais at the front, two Sutherlands at the middle and a Burai and two Sutherlands at the back. I couldn't see the Gloucester anywhere, but something told me to be careful anyway.

'What do you think?'

'I see two ways we do this. Either one of us moves ahead and we do a pincer attack or you attack the back while I give you support from a distance.'

'I think we should try out your rifle and collect some data on it. It is the only prototype that hasn't been tested.'

'I see…' So we must be mindful of those things when in the simulations. 'Then I will stay around here while you go ahead.'

I switched the rifle and got ready while Suzaku approached the enemies at a higher speed. From where I was, I couldn't hit all the enemies on the front, but at least one Burai would fall. When in sniper version, the rifle turned into a bolt-action one, so the fire-rate was decreased to some extent. Aiming at the cockpit, I fired right before Suzaku came out in the open.

Warned by the sound of the gunshot, they turned around right before Suzaku engages them with his twin MVS, destroying one of the enemies and forcing him to eject. The one I fired at was completely wrecked, not giving it any spare time to eject. I managed to fire a second bullet at another person in the front, decreasing their numbers even further.

'Suzaku, they will most likely go in the woods to get some cover from my sniper, so use this break in formation to eliminate more of them.'

'Understood.'

And just as I said, they moved out of the trail, going into the woods only to be pursued by my partner. Using the sniper, I eliminated one from the middle before he could get to the cover. Suzaku pursued those who went to the left side, leaving the only one who managed to go to the right to me.

Normally I wouldn't be able to hit him while he was moving in the woods, moving in an erratic path and using the trees as cover. But I had the Sniper Mode, so I decided to give it a try. I activated it and the whole screen display changed, showing several information like wind speed and direction. For some reason, the enemy also seemed to be moving slower than before, so I use everything in hand to aim for an empty spot. After firing the bullet, it carved its path and got the enemy right when he was passing, destroying it.

'How's it going on your end?'

'Almost done. Only one of them left.'

'Understood. I'll check the convoy while you do it.'

I underestimated how much energy the Sniper Mode would consume and as a result I only had around 50% left. In the future, I should refrain from using it or I would find myself in a very dangerous situation. All the trucks seemed to be fine and undamaged, which would probably be a plus were it a real mission. Suddenly, I saw something in the corner of my eye and jumped back just before a long lance pierced the air where I was just a moment before.

The Gloucester we heard before retracted his lance and prepared to deliver another assault on me. These were made for melee fights, so I had to be extra careful once they got in range with their lances. I picked the two lance-type MVS and used the left one to slightly parry the incoming attack, and delivering a piercing blow on my own. It only scratched the arm of my opponent as he moved to the same side the lance went to avoid me.

'Where did he come from?' Muttering under my breath, I soon found the answer. 'So they were carrying it on the trucks… probably to save energy in case something like this happens.'

He took the initiative once again and came at me with everything. The thing about some lances is that they are made almost entirely to pierce the target, not to slash them. The lance of the Gloucester was one of such type, limiting his possible moves against me, while my own lances were a lot more versatile. Trying to wait until the last second, I once more parried the attack, but with less success as the tip scratched one of my arms. But because I waited longer, it gave me enough time to slash one arm of the enemy's Knightmare.

With a single arm, he couldn't put as much force in the blows as before and wielding the large weapon was nearly out of the question, so he started to fall back and fire at me with a rifle. I moved after him while joining my two weapons together to increase my reach and get him. In a swift movement, I extended the polearm to its maximum, cutting down his leg and sending him down. The ejection system kicked in and he was sent away.

The words "Mission Accomplished" appeared at the screen and soon the simulator was turned off. Opening the cockpit, I was surprised at how much sweat was covering my body. I go to where Lloyd and Cécile are analyzing the date they got from the simulation.

'Good work on your first day.' Suzaku congratulated me when he sat down in a desk nearby.

'Is it always like this?'

'Most days. Sometimes we may go somewhere with the physical frames, but doing that requires money, which we don't have.'

'Budget issues seem like the real deal around here…'

'We also see real combat now and then. Like in the hotel hijacking from the JLF some time ago.'

'More or less what I expected.'

'So… changing the subject, did you got the History's lesson of today?'

'About the Washington's Rebellion? Yeah, I understood it.'

'Could you please explain it to me?' He clapped both his hands together and bowed his head. 'I didn't get most of it!'

So we spend the next hour reviewing what was taught at History, meaning the Washington's Rebellion. This was an event that happened when George Washington gathered an army and tried to declare the independence of the North America's colonies of Britannia. It ended with his defeat and execution of Washington, together with the "Founding Fathers" of the "United States of America". Years later, the Royal Family of Britannia would be driven out by Napoleon after the Battle of Trafalgar and the Humiliation of Edinburgh.

'Thanks for the assistance.' He sounded a bit embarrassed. 'I haven't gone to school since I was seven, so it gets tough sometimes.'

'It must be rough.'

'I manage.'

'It was a wonderful gathering of data.' Lloyd was in a great mood when he talked with us again. 'With this, maybe we can convince the higher-ups to release a bit more of money, enough to actually build a second Lancelot.'

'That's good to know.'

'So, now I need you two to change clothes and do something of equal importance to me.'

* * *

'Did Lloyd… seriously sent us out here just to buy him pudding?' I looked at the shopping list written with Cécile's beautiful letters.

'He does that from time to time.' Suzaku was choosing carrots while I tried to decide between two lettuces. 'Cécile uses these times to ask for a few things too.'

It was the first time I was wearing my army uniform, which seemed a little stupid when I thought how I was buying pudding. It was very well made despite being made just in a day, something that should be expected of Britannia. While we were busy choosing the things, some men got inside the small market with handguns.

'Everybody freeze! We want all the money or someone's getting hurt!'

I looked at Suzaku. Suzaku looked back at me.

* * *

'They weren't wrong.'

'Why is that?' Suzaku was using a piece of cloth given to him by the owner to tie both of them down.

'Someone did get hurt when they didn't get the money.'

'Thank you so much!' The said owner was jumping from joy. 'You can take anything you want for free!'

We ended up not paying anything from our groceries' shop, but he wouldn't take a no for an answer and gave us a few other things like sweets and even a frying pan. Carrying it back to the headquarters felt a bit weird, as we were carrying a lot more than the planned.

'How do you feel?'

'What do you mean?'

'About your first day working?'

'A bit tired, but… satisfied, I supposed? I had a rough night, so it's good to distract myself with something.'

'I imagine.'

So started my daily life as a test pilot at Camelot, all in order to find out more about myself. It was the first step of many in a road that could lead to an horrible conclusion, but I decided to follow it. No matter what lies ahead, I wasn't alone.


	5. Chapter 5

'Thirty minutes late already…' My head fell down when I checked the time for what seemed to be the thousandth time.

Milly tasked me with receiving some new students from the Homeland from the airport and take them to Ashford Academy, but something happened and their flight was delayed, no arrival in sight. Looking at the planes coming and going to distract myself, my eyes getting considerably heavier by the minute, I fought back the lure of Morpheus for some time…

* * *

' _This is the place, right?' I checked my tablet to make sure. 'Seems correct.'_

 _Getting out of the car, I went outside with the bag I was carrying at the back seat, looking at the huge castle in the distance. For safety reasons, I couldn't just park so close, or the objective would backfire at me. Walking up the cliff, I could see the details of the castle, a small but beautiful work of Imperial architecture._

' _Who are you?' I turn around, going for the handgun concealed at my jacket, but all I see is a little girl, around eight years old, staring at me with curious eyes._

' _I am looking for lady Flora mel Britannia. I have some things to discuss with her and… a present as well.' I showed her the bag at my side._

' _Mary's mom sure has a lot of friends.' She pointed that out while smiling. 'Okay, I will take you there.'_

' _Thank you.' She started to guide me to the castle._

 _She was a very energetic child with blonde hair and vivid green eyes, with the attire of a noble lady. However, she didn't look like the usual sheltered and spoiled noble's daughter, as I could detect some inner strength on her. Maybe one day she could serve our purposes…_

' _What is your name, mister?'_

' _My name… is James.'_

' _Hum… and how do you know Mary's mother?'_

' _We worked for the same people… once.'_

' _Really? What do you do?'_

' _I take care of problems when they get too out of hand.'_

' _I see…'_

' _And what about you? What's your name?'_

' _I'm Oldrin, of house Zevon!' She puffed up her childish chest with pride from saying those words. 'And one day, I will be a knight that will protect the empire.'_

' _A knight…' For some reason that brought back some memories._

' _What is it, mister?'_

' _Nothing, just… I used to be a knight too.'_

' _Really?' She went as far of stopping me with her eyes glowing._

' _Yes… but that was too long ago.' I said that in a whisper so low that the young girl couldn't possibly hear me._

' _I wish to be Mary's knight. I love her a lot.'_

' _So you must treasure her above all else, least you may lose her.'_

' _Of course!' She said, right before we arrived at the castle. 'Her mother should be inside. Now, if you excuse me…'_

' _Go play to your hearts content, my lady.' I slightly bowed my head to the young girl._

 _A butler saw me to the large study where lady Flora was, noticeably waiting for his arrival. She wasn't wearing the traditional dresses from the nobility, but rather the uniform of a knight, made to look fancy without sacrificing mobility. I put the bad on the ground and looked at the woman before me, an impressive person indeed._

' _So you came at last.' She didn't look surprised at all. 'I thought that man would send you, Thanatos.'_

' _If you knew, why didn't you run?' I put my hands in two different pockets, picking the objects on each of them._

' _Because I knew how it would work out: once that man activates you, nothing can simply stand on your way to achieve your mission. It would only be a matter of time before you would catch up to me.'_

' _I can be quite tenacious, true.' I noticed she had her eyes sealed and that she was most likely reading my lips._

' _So I waited for you instead.' She looked at me with those powerful eyes of her. 'At the very least, I will eliminate you from the face of the Earth.'_

' _Pity…' I looked down my eyes at her sight._

' _Why is that?'_

' _It's a shame that you won't ever achieve this final battle of yours.' I said, pressing the buttons on the two transmitters I had in my pockets._

 _My body was entirely enveloped in what seemed like a white foam while I held my breath right before it was violently sent away from the shockwave that the bomb in the back unleashed. I felt the special protective material hitting what was probably the wall of the study and once again, only to stay still for several minutes._

 _The issue with the protective material was that you had to hold your breath for nearly seven minutes until it turned into a liquid. It was created to withstand bombs and missiles attack by absorbing the shock from the explosions. But the cost of creating it and the issue with the breathing made it unsuitable for most people to us… but I wasn't most people._

 _Covered in what seemed like a viscous slime, I got up from the floor, feeling a sharp pain around my chest area. I had at least a few broken ribs, but I was trained to endure the pain, turning it into an annoyance at best. I checked the castle and saw the west side of it with a huge hole, most likely from the bombing. I was in a bad shape while heavily protected, so there was no way that she could have survived._

' _I must say, I had my doubts with this plan of yours.' A well-known voice spoke from behind me._

' _My lord.' I bent my knees to the one in front of me. 'I wasn't aware you would come here.'_

' _One cannot remain away from current events for so long, least the rust will accumulate.' He looked over at the burning building with satisfaction. 'Still, I'm impressed you managed to pull that out. She was considerably dangerous, being one of the few aware of your existence.'_

' _That's why I took the long way around it. This way, we make sure she won't survive by any means.'_

' _Indeed…' Then he looked at some point behind me. 'How curious.'_

 _Behind us, I could see three young girls sobbing violently, one of them being Oldrin. Without a second thought, I went in their direction, with the man following behind me._

' _James…' Oldrin looked at me and she suddenly knew. 'It was you, wasn't it?'_

' _What if it was?'_

' _Why?' She cried out to me. 'Why did you do it?'_

' _It was necessary.' I said, pointing my handgun to them. 'Now, I must finish the mission.'_

' _Wait.' The man stepped ahead, looking at the girls with interest. 'We can use them.'_

' _Are you sure? The Emperor may not like this.'_

' _You know fully well how much I care about the Emperor's opinion.' He gave me a devilish smile. 'Bring them over.'_

' _All of them?'_

' _No… leave the blonde one behind. She is no use to us when we have that already. Also, make sure she doesn't remember anything.'_

' _Understood.'_

 _Subduing the princess and what seemed like her sister was easy, but Oldrin fought back against me with what seemed like a toy sword. A slap to her face was enough to bring her down and pin her to the ground. Activating my right eye, I took one last look at her crying face before I uttered the words:_

' _You won't remember what happened here.'_

' _With this, the opposition to us diminishes even more.' I carried the young ones on my back as we made our way back to the car. 'Could you give me a ride? The car I came in was in the castle you just blew up.'_

' _Why did you leave it there if you knew I would blow the building?'_

' _I was a bit skeptic about you pulling this off without killing yourself. I was proved wrong by you once again. Seriously, you know how irreplaceable you are, don't you? So don't just go ahead and die without my permission.'_

' _Understood, my lord.'_

* * *

I once again woke up suddenly, sweating like crazy from what I just saw. Luckily, the urge to vomit wasn't there or things would turn into a mess pretty quickly. According to the clock hung up above me, only fifteen minutes had passed, but I felt like a thousand years went by after dozing off.

The memory vanished as quickly as before, but what was left remained a lot cleaner than before: that time I could vividly recall the face of a young blonde girl. Her name was Oldrin and she wished to be a knight. She also had a friend she loved dearly and that was the extent of what I could recall. The same shame I felt from the same vision filled my chest as I drew heavy breaths to calm myself.

'Boy, you have some pretty dark thoughts, don't you?' Some man spoke behind me, scaring me from the sudden appearance.

'What?'

Turning around, I took a good look at a young man with white hair and sunglasses covering his eyes. He had huge headphones covering his ears and was wearing clothes that gave the impression of being foreign, just as their owner. For some reason he made me uneasy, ready to fight back at any second.

'You don't have to worry about it. Even with my huge advantage, you can probably defeat me easily when it comes to a physical confrontation.' Was he serious? 'Completely serious.'

('How in Hell…')

'How can I know what you are thinking in that little head of yours?' He poked my forehead with an amused smile. 'How do you think?'

('I…') For a second I wondered when a mental image came to my head: the strange power in my right eye.

'Bingo!' Ha clapped his hands to show his approval. 'As a prize, I will say that my name is Mao, Rai.'

'You…'

'Ah! No need to speak it out loud, I can hear you anyway.' He said, lowering his glasses to show me the two sigils on both of his eyes. 'Unlike you, I can't just turn it off, you see?'

('Why did you tell me your name? And how do I know you are not lying?')

'Interesting. Most people keep talking with their mouths after I tell them there's no need.' He sounded satisfied by that. 'And I told you my name because it would be a bit unfair to not do so, and lie, when I know all your secrets, right?'

('Why are you here then?')

'I'm looking for the most important person in the world. For me, at least she is. There is no one I love more in the whole world but her. No one can replace her, ever!'

('How do you know she is in Area 11?')

'Oh, I had a few leads on her whereabouts, but all speculations. But since a larger number of rumors pointed to this place, I decided to come and check for myself.'

("I see…')

'Well, it was good, talking to someone about this.' He got up from the seat he was occupying at my side. 'I hope you are successful at remembering your past.'

('Can't you look inside my mind and see if there's anything I didn't find out?')

'Hum… sadly, I can't reach that deep, even if I completely focus on just you.' He patted my shoulder. 'I can't see what is nearly lost, sorry.'

('It's alright.') I sighed with some disappointment. ('Good luck at finding your loved one.')

'Oh my, thank you.' He turned around and started to move away. 'See you around some day, Rai.'

What was that about? I mean, what are the chances for me to find another person with a similar power like that? And I only realized how strange the meeting was after he had gone for quite a while. I should have inquired him further before…

I saw that the plane with the new students I was supposed to pick up had just arrived, so I quickly got up and made my way to the gate. Holding up the… colorful (the girls had their fair share of fun creating it) board with Ashford's name written on it in front of my chest, I waited for them to come out of the gate.

'Excuse me!' A girl with long pink hair reaching almost to her hip talked with me in a dignified manner. 'Are you perhaps the one that came to pick us up?'

'Are you… Marrybell?'

'Yes, indeed.' She smiled in a calm manner. 'I will be in your care, Mr…'

'Rai. Rai Hodges.'

'Mary, wait for the luggage before going ahead!' Another girl spoke from behind her and I nearly fainted when I saw who she was.

Blonde hair tied in two ponytails at the side of her head, vivid and bright green eyes and a well-toned build were some of the few features of the young woman in front of me. But what made me take a few steps back was the fact he looked like an exact version of the girl my saw in my blurry vision, Oldrin.

'Oh, is he the one picking us up?' She looked at me for a second and smiled happily. 'Thank you for the work.'

'No problem…' How could that be?

'Aren't you forgetting something?' Marrybell covered her smile and premonition of a laugh with her hand.

'Oh!' The girl seemed aware of it all of a sudden. 'I'm Oldrin Zevon and… are you alright?'

'Oh yes, I am…'

'You look a bit too pale.' Marrybell looked at my face closely. 'Are you sure you are feeling alright?'

'Y-Yeah, don't worry.' I took a deep breath to calm myself.

Despite how foggy the memory was, I could tell without a doubt that the young girl in front of me was the same from my vision. But if that was the case, how come she looked ten years younger there? I may not know my age, but I probably didn't look old enough to be an adult ten years prior to have met her. Then, how the Hell I met her and under which circumstances?

'If you say so.' The girl seemed to have some reservations about it.

'There's a car waiting for us outside.' I noticed the many bags she was carrying in a cart. 'Let me handle it.'

'I'm fine!' She blushed a bit, but from some irritation. 'You don't look that well, so…'

'It would be shameful to let a girl do all the heavy work.'

'How chivalrous.' Marrybell laughed at my words. 'Oldrin, just let him do it or his pride will be in pieces.'

'Alright.' She puffed her cheeks a bit when she handed me over the bags.

When I said car, I actually meant the personal limousine of the Ashfords, hinting the importance of these new students. After putting the luggage at the back, we made our way to the school with the two girls chatting happily while I kept looking at Oldrin, trying to figure out an answer.

'Is there something wrong?'

'Why?'

'Because you kept looking at me non-stop since we entered the car. It's a bit… strange.'

'Sorry.' I quickly looked away from her. 'You remind me of someone I met before…'

* * *

'Princess!?' Rivalz gave voice to everyone's reaction by nearly yelling that word.

'Although that is true, I have been away from the center of the Royal Family's intrigues ever since my mother passed away, so it's no surprise none of you recognized me.'

'That's…'

'Oh, no need to be reserved around me. If you could, treat me just like any other girl my age. And that includes Oldrin, of course.'

'That's right!'

'If I may ask you… why are you moving here? I mean, you could go to any school in the world, so…'

'You are… Shirley, aren't you? Well, I would say personal reasons.' And that was the end of it.

Of course, Milly was aware of the whole story, her being the grandmaster's granddaughter and all that, and she didn't bother to inform anyone of it. I spoke very little while everyone was greeting those two, preferring to stay from a distance. Curiously enough, Lelouch followed the same behavior, preferring to speak as little as possible with the newcomers. I wonder why he did that…

'Rai, what's wrong?' Milly approached me while everyone was distracted.

'Hum? Nothing wrong with me. Why do you ask?'

'You barely took your eyes from Oldrin since she came here. Could it be…' She covered her mouth with her hand in a cartoon-like manner. 'Love at first sight?'

'As if.' I looked at her with my poker face.

'A budding love between a noble knight and a young man who lost his memories! After enduring many things together, they discover the young man's status as a lost prince and end together at the end!'

'That's a good fairy tail's plot you have there.' I sighed at such enthusiasm. 'But I doubt it will happen.'

'You are no fun.' She smiled in her mischievous way and approached my ear. 'Today is all white, nothing else.'

'Cut it out already!'

'You two look close.' Marrybell suddenly approached us and smiled.

For some reason, every single nerve in my body yelled the words "danger" the moment she did so, as if she was about to attack us. I moved my arm to get Milly out of the way, but restrained myself before I did anything suspicious. Although Lelouch triggered a similar reaction, it wasn't as intense as this one girl. There was something in her eyes, hidden deeply within them, that made me nervous.

'I just like to tease him a little bit.' Milly quickly answered. 'Just like everyone in the Council.'

'I see.'

Why didn't I felt that at the airport? Despite her smile, my body reacted as if I was in front of a mortal predator. There was nothing coming from Oldrin, but this woman Marrybell was a completely different story. I would have to be extra careful around her…

* * *

'So that's how you do it…' Suzaku sounded relieved at the sight of the finished math homework. 'Thanks a lot, Rai.'

'No problem.'

Doing something as normal as the homework gave me some inner peace and calmed the turmoil that came with that princess and her knight. We had just finished the simulation of the day, so I once again helped Suzaku with his work. It was a nice change of peace, that's for sure.

'So, any luck recovering your memories?'

'No…' It felt wrong to lie to him when he was seriously worrying.

'Just take your own pace with it, alright?'

'Sure.' After some more minutes of working in silence. 'Hey… thank you.'

'Why is that?'

'You've been a great help ever since this all started. I hope I can help you as much as you are helping me.'

'Well… thanks.'

'Well boys.' What's with people sneaking up to me all the time? 'Looks like we will be going to a mountain trip to Narita.'

'Where's this place?'

'Viceroy Cornelia li Britannia got hold of information that informed her that the Japan Liberation Front, the biggest resistance group against Britannian domain in Area 11, has their headquarters there.'

'In other words, we'll sit on the side while she gets all the glory for herself. Not that I care much, but that means we won't get any data and will have to spend our already strained budget by going there.'

'Why do you say that?'

'Because our two soldiers are an Honorary Britannian Warrant Officer and a rookie Private is one reason, probably the official one. However, our dear viceroy is a prideful woman who doesn't like to use Numbers in her forces.'

'Oh…'

This type of thing is what Suzaku was trying to change by entering the army (and me too, to a certain extend), but if he never get the chance to rise in the ranks, how was he supposed to do it? I suppose he got the short straw by getting Cornelia as the viceroy, as several other nobles were more open to the idea of Numbers and Honorary Britannians serving in the army. To raise his spirits, I put my hand over his shoulder and smiled a bit at him.

'Whatever happens, I got your back, partner.'

* * *

I found out I enjoyed the quiet scenery from the park, with the sun hiding itself at the horizon and sending the last rays of orange on the city. It would calm my troubled mind to watch people passing by in tranquility. In truth, I was just using an excuse to not get close to Oldrin Zevon and Marrybell mel Britannia, each for their own reasons.

'You sure have a lot of troubles today.' Mao appeared holding two cans. 'Mind if I sit?'

('No.') I had no strength to voice my answer.

'So, how are you doing?' He gave me one of the cans, which was filled with some unknown juice flavor.

('You already know the answer, so why bother asking?')

'Because it would be rude to not do so.' He took a sip from the can he was holding. 'As for me, I may have found a clue of C.C's whereabouts.'

('Curious name.')

'She is a very unique woman, for sure.' His entire face lightened up when thinking of her. 'Our reunion is getting closer and closer…'

('I wish you luck on that.')

'Thank you. So why don't you share your thoughts with me a bit?'

('Why not?') I didn't have to put into words, because he could hear my thoughts anyway.

'How curious you met that girl Oldrin just after remembering something about her.'

('I know, right?') Then I remembered something I wished to inquire him about.

'It's called Geass.'

('Geass?')

'Tell you what: why don't you buy us pizza?'

('Why should I buy pizza?')

'Isn't it obvious?'

('I can't read minds, so no, it isn't.)

'Because we are friends. And friends enjoy pizza together.'

* * *

'Here is your pizza.' The waitress put the hot meal of mass and cheese in our table.

'Thank you.' I looked at Mao happily picking one slice, the melted cheese stretching to it. 'I can't believe I'm actually buying you pizza.'

'What's the problem with that? You'll be eating it too, so stop complaining and eat it before it gets cold.'

('Alright.') Well, I was paying anyway. ('I wonder what people think of me staying silent while you seemly talk to yourself.')

'If you worry too much about what people think of you, you won't be able to fully enjoy your life, you know? Besides, I don't care what people think or care.'

('Only C.C.')

'Exactly!'

('So, about Geass…')

'Oh, that's right. To put it simply, it's an ability that gives you some supernatural ability related to the mind, at least I think so. Aside from you, I never actually met another Geass user.'

('How can one obtain such power?')

'The only way I know is to have a specific type of person giving it to you. But in my whole life I only met one of them, but I am sure there are more out there in the world.'

('Does that mean I met one of those?')

'Or you got yours by another way I am unaware. They can differ a lot from person to person and I believe each one is unique. Well, all this is basically speculation on my part, as I've never met any aside from you.'

('I see…')

'Do you know what yours can do? No, you don't… you should try and find out, add something else to your set of weapons.'

('How do I test it?')

'First, activate it and… I don't know? In my case, as soon as I turned mine on, I could hear people's thoughts. Try it out here.'

I did just as he instructed and soon I felt the energy enveloping my right eye, which probably changed from the usual blue to the purple color with the sigil in the middle. I looked around a bit and focused on the people around me. Nothing happened.

'Hum… maybe there are certain conditions for it to trigger?'

('Are you sure we should do it here, with so many people around?')

'Unless your Geass can kill someone just by using it, I don't see the problem. And those are extremely rare, according to C.C.'

('Is she the one who gave yours?')

'Yes, she is. You see, Geass abilities that can directly kill are extremely hard to appear. I think she once mentioned that she only met one person who had it, but apparently it was more of a curse than a proper Geass.'

('I see…')

'Well, how about a second round?' He pointed at the empty plate where the pizza used to be.

'You shouldn't eat too much or it will be bad for your health.' I spoke out loud and something happened.

What seemed like a bubble of purple energy came out of me and enveloped some people in the room, a red ring appearing around their eyes. All of them dropped their plates and asked for the tip, leaving only the shocked me with Mao, who locked around in amusement.

'Would you look at that? It appears to be sound based and one that people obey your orders.'

('Why weren't you affected?') I turned it off just in case.

'I can't actually hear anything.' He tapped his headphones with his index finger. 'That's why I told you have no need to speak: I can't hear your voice anyway.'

('Shit… do you think that was permanent?') I ended up asking after several minutes of silence, after the second pizza came.

'What was?'

('I would feel a bit bad if they never eat pizza because of me.')

'It's not exactly something to feel bad about, is it?' He took another bite of the one he had in his hand. 'No, forget that. It's evil to the bone.'

('Wonderful…')

'Ah, don't worry. You didn't said to never eat it again, only to not exaggerate. The most that could happen is having them limit how much they eat, so that's good for their health.'

('Sure, whatever.')

We ended up getting a third one.

* * *

'It's quiet.' Suzaku kept looking at an old pocket watch of his ever since we arrived at our position.

'It's only the calm before the storm.' As for me, I kept looking at the direction where the JLF was hiding. 'So, ready for action?'

'I'm not so sure. I mean, attacking the JLF like that seems… exaggerated.'

'I know what you mean.'

'But I suppose things will become more peaceful around here once they are defeated.'

'The way things are going, the viceroy won't even need our assistance, which is why Lloyd is so grumpy now.'

'He won't get his precious data after all.' Suzaku smiled a little when he said that. 'How you feeling about going in a real battle?'

'Weird. I came out without a scratch in most simulations, but no computer can recreate what a battlefield looks like. I guess I'm a bit nervous.'

'You don't have to worry. I've got your six.'

'Same here, partner.'

'Looks like everything has been decided.' Lloyd came to us to inform of the decisions of the higher-ups. 'The viceroy will be leading the assault herself while the sub-viceroy will be in charge of the medical troops.'

'Wait, princess Euphemia is here? Why?' Suzaku's face turned into one of surprise and worry.

'To learn more about how to lead troops in battle. She will stay away from the front at the G-1 Mobile Base and won't engage in actual combat.' He gave us his usual smile. 'She was the one who requested this, against the wishes of the viceroy.'

'Why would she do something like that?'

'Probably because she wanted to see a real battle.' Cécile appeared holding a small tablet. 'You should both get inside your Knightmares and get ready to take off, just in case.'

'Yes, my Lord!' The two of us got inside our frames.

Mine was the real version of the virtual Sutherland Club I used during the simulations. The controls were the same as the real deal and I moved the thing a little bit before coming to Narita, checking if everything was in order. Different from the usual purple pattern of common Sutherlands, mine was painted in white and purple, with a more "Lancelot-like" head.

During the several minutes we had to wait for further instructions, I kept thinking of Oldrin Zevon, the girl I somehow met in the past. It appeared as if she didn't remember whatever connection we had, something I was grateful for. I had the feeling something terrible happened in our past, something I wasn't sure I should remember…

'The situation surely changed quickly.' I could hear Lloyd's voice from behind me.

'Could this have been caused by a heat reaction?' Cécile had a hint of nervousness in her voice.

'Impossible, unless… they managed to get Rakshata's Radiation Wave Device…' Lloyd sounded a lot more interested all of a sudden.

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing to do with us, don't worry. Just wait until someone calls for us.'

Something was definitely wrong, so I turned the radio on and received the image of Hell. Somehow, there was a devastating landslide that nearly decimated our side. A general named Alex had disappeared and only 20% of Britannia's forces remained after the disaster. I couldn't believe it to be a natural disaster, but how could anyone manage to pull that one off?

'Lloyd, what the hell is going on?' Suzaku was a bit irritated.

'The Black Knights have made their move.' Somehow, I wasn't surprised at all. 'Congratulations, you guys may join the battle after all.'

'Lloyd!' Suzaku disapproved the way he spoke it.

'You really need to learn how to be more discrete.' Cécile said with hints of anger in her voice.

'What have I done?' Seriously?

'Should I tell you?' The vivid image of a demon appeared behind her apparently angelical image and smile.

'I'll pass.' Luckily, he sensed the imminent danger. 'We still have to wait for official orders for you two to deploy.'

The situation just kept getting worse as the time passed, with reports of the viceroy being corned by the JLF's forces when she attempted to retreat. Our forces were in complete disarray while the Black Knights kept diminishing them by the minute. After a while the entire Purist Faction was lost to a new model of Knightmare, destroying the rear support the viceroy had. The way things were going, the woman had her days counted.

'Lloyd! Open a channel with the sub-viceroy, now!'

'What will that achieve?'

'We must ask her to send us after the viceroy or it will be too late!' I was frenetic while yelling at him. 'Now!'

After some tense moments, the screens in my cockpit lit up and showed me an image of the command center, with smaller screens showing Lloyd, Cécile and Suzaku. In the bigger one I saw for the first time the young woman named Euphemia li Britannia, the younger sister of the current leader of Area 11 and an imperial princess. She had a worried look when she noticed us on her own screen.

'Hello!' Lloyd really couldn't take a hint. 'Camelot speaking.'

'You insolent scum!' One of the officers with her exploded at my boss. 'The situation is already dire enough without you irregulars butting in!'

'We are not doing anything but waiting for orders to deploy Warrant Officer Kururugi and Private Hodges to combat.'

'Your highness.' Suzaku spoke directly to the woman, angering the Britannian officers. 'Please, give us the order.'

While Lloyd and the officers have a discussion, I noticed Suzaku moving his mouth without uttering a sound and a change happening to the young woman. She seemed to understand what that meant, because her eyes showed a resolution that didn't exist minutes prior.

'I give you both clearance to deploy.' I probably had never seen Lloyd as happy as when she said that.

'I will do my best, your Highness!' Suzaku had pure conviction carved in his words.

'Understood.'

'Are you Private Hodges?'

'Yes, your Highness. I am Warrant Officer Kururugi's partner, my lady.'

'Take good care of him out there, Private.'

'I promise you I will never leave his side, your Highness.'

Once preparations were done, the Lancelot and the Club were ready for deployment, being equipped with special sand pads for the rough terrain of the mountains. Our mission was simple, yet considerably challenging: carving our way to the viceroy's position and rescuer her from the Black Knights.

'Suzaku, may I ask you something?'

'What's it, sir?'

'You hate killing people so much that even during simulations, you always disable the enemies' frames instead of killing them. Yet, you are in the military. Why is that?'

'I joined the military so no more people would die in vain.' I smiled at his words, seeing his resolve to see his wish come true.

'This contradiction may one day get you killed… Sorry!' I saw Cécile's arm appearing from outside the screen and pulling Lloyd with it. That brought another smile to my face.

'Ready for it, partner?'

'It's now or ever.' He smiled at me with a decisive look. 'Lancelot, launch!'

'Sutherland Club, launch!'

Getting to where the viceroy was would be difficult, as not just the terrain was unstable, but there were several enemies on our way there. Moving in the greatest speed we could manage, we heard reports of her engaging the Black Knights, with a sour depiction of her status. Just before we got to her, a large wall of solid rocks stood on our way, too high for us to jump over.

'What now?'

'That won't stop me!' Suzaku picked up his V.A.R.I.S Rifle and used the energy beam to open a path in the rock for us to cross.

'Holy shit…' I could only speak in amazement. 'I will have Lloyd make one for me now…'

'You have a cool sniper rifle, so stop complaining.'

'Would rather have a laser gun than a sniper.' It wasn't laser, but you got the idea. 'Way cooler.'

'Don't sound like a child.' Despite that, he sounded like he was having fun. 'Almost there!'

When the last bit of the rock blew away and we saw the viceroy, her situation was dire indeed, with her Gloucester armless and quite damaged, on the verge of falling down. There were five Burais and a strange red Knightmare with unequal arms, the right one being extremely bigger than the left. Maybe he liked his alone time a bit too much.

'Viceroy, we came to give you some assistance.'

'Camelot? But who authorized…'

'Less talk and more action.'

Using the Blaze Luminous System to generate a shield, Suzaku stopped the bullets fired by the Burais before they hit us. I didn't have that very useful thing installed, as Lloyd couldn't manage to make it work well (something else to pester him for, I guess). Using the V.A.R.I.S to fire at them, we found out that the red Knightmare could move in a speed that could rival the Lancelot.

'This will be fun indeed.'

'Is that sarcasm I detect in your voice, Rai?'

'You two take care of the red unit while…what are you doing?' The viceroy yelled when I blocked her path.

'Sorry for being so rude, your Highness, but your Gloucester is in no position to fight as it is. Just leave those guys to me.'

'Wait, it's suicide to take four of them at once!' I detected some fear in her voice, something unusual for the image she would give normally.

'Suzaku, can you take care of the red guy? I doubt I can be much of a match for him, even in my enhanced Sutherland.'

'Leave him to me.' I imagined a smile covering his face. 'Have fun on your side.'

'Listen to me!'

'With all due respect, viceroy.' I said, joining my two MVS into the double lance. 'Just watch for now.'

Four of them come to me at once, planning to use their superior numbers to their advantage. The fifth one stayed behind, a more decorated frame that suggested someone important was inside of it. They all fired at me with their assault rifles, probably thinking I was just another Sutherland with a different paint job. Boy, how wrong were they and they found it out the worst possible way.

Moving constantly to avoid being hit by their joint fire, I slashed the first one in the area of the chest, cutting down the cockpit nearly in half and killing the pilot inside of it. It was the first time I had killed after losing my memories and it felt… normal. I don't if I should be grateful or scared by it. Maybe a bit of both

The second one receives a slash at the head before I spin my frame and use the other blade to cut him by the waist, forcing the person inside to eject. The other two changed to close quarter combats and tried to make my longer reach useless, so I separated the two swords and parrying both their attacks at the same time, using the moments of distraction to cut them both down.

'How are you on your end, partner?'

'I just sent the red Knightmare down the mountain. I will stay by the viceroy, so you go and grab that decorated frame. Zero is the one piloting it.'

'Roger.' Before I can go very far, more enemies appeared and fired at me. 'Dammit! Zero will escape this way!'

'Take care of them while I go after him.'

'What about the viceroy?'

'She is the one who ordered me to do so. Just trust me on this, alright?'

'If you say so, boss.'

There were three enemies this time, an easy job after the four I just defeated. I jumped from behind the rock I was using as cover and started to fire at them in midair, destroying one enemy. Getting closer to a second one, I use my gun to smash his head and deliver a volley of bullets at his chest right after. I finished the service by launching all four slash harkens at the last remaining enemy, making him fall to the ground.

'Finished over here. You?'

'I just got Zero. I will watch over him and make sure he doesn't escape.'

So that was the end for the infamous Zero and his Black Knights. That plan he performed, using a landslide to deal with most of the enemy forces, was brilliant and well thought, but it didn't matter at all if the ending was his capture. Knowing Suzaku like I did, he would make sure Zero would be brought before the higher-ups for a trial, with very little chances of him actually getting one. Before I could celebrate even a bit, I hear something that made my blood freeze over in my veins.

'AAAAAHHHHHH!' Suzaku released a scream of terror with all the might of his lungs so suddenly I jumped from the scare.

'Suzaku? Hey, Suzaku!, Answer me, dammit!' Throwing all caution out the window, I went to his last position.

Good thing I had good reflexes, or a V.A.R.I.S shot would have destroyed me completely, with the owner firing seemingly at random with the gun. He seemed like he was fighting against invisible enemies of some sort, but at that rate he could kill himself, so I used my MVS to send the sword away from his hands. That was successful, but it only meant his attention turned solely to me.

'GET AWAY FROM ME!' he used his own MVS to strike me, but I defended myself before I got cut down. 'LEAVE ME ALONE!'

He successfully cut one of my arms, leaving me only with one to defend myself against the barrage of attacks he was delivering. I got a taste at how much the Lancelot was superior to my Club in the worst possible way imaginable. If I didn't find a way to stop him, I would be killed by my own partner!

'Lloyd, how the fuck do I disable the Lancelot without hurting the devicer?'

'You would have to shoot the energy capsule directly without hitting any other part. But doing so with a single arm is impossible!'

'Don't you ever say that something is impossible until you try.' I jumped back as far as I could while picking my sniper in the air. 'Here goes nothing!'

I would only get a single shot at using Sniper Mode to deactivate the Lancelot, so if I missed, one of us would die for sure. I aimed very carefully, each drop of sweat in my brown clearly distinguishable from the other while I focused only in the target ahead. After some mere microseconds that felt like centuries, I took the shot and hoped for the best. The bullet traveled at extremely high speed and hit the white frame while I got my breath held tightly, hoping for something.

Nothing happened to him. I did it.

* * *

Even princess Euphemia came to see Suzaku when I dragged him from his Knightmare, completely passed out and pale as a ghost. He appeared to have a serious mental breakdown when he was alone with Zero, prompting me to believe Zero had a Geass too. What other explanation could be for such an unusual thing to happen?

It was the first battle I fought after agreeing to join Camelot and I felt exhausted like never before from it. I sat down in a metal box used to carry the equipment and watched as several doctors examined Suzaku with the princess at his side, unwavering. The possibility of those two… maybe I am spending too much time with Milly…

'So, what do you think about your first battle?' Lloyd once again appeared to teleport to my side.

'It's only the beginning.' I looked at what happened to my friend because of it. 'It won't end unless Zero is defeated.'

We had lost the battle, but the war was far from over.


	6. Chapter 6

Feeling the coldness of the water passing my hair was relaxing, a small refresh against the blazing sunlight. I spent that whole morning aiding the rescue efforts in Narita, looking for anyone who might have survived the devastating landslide caused by the Black Knights. Little hope was left, as no one was found alive even after a whole day of intensive search.

'Taking a break?' Suzaku sat down besides me, chugging down a bottle of fresh water. 'There's still a lot of ground to dig…'

'I know.' I looked at some soldiers carrying bodies, a sight that turned common in the barren landscape.' So far, no one from the Black Knights has been found. This is probably their greatest victory by far.'

'Yeah…' Suzaku also threw water over the top of his head, cooling it down. 'Zero… he is a monster.'

'Say whatever you want about him, but it was an intelligent tactic, brilliant even.' I endured the pissed look my partner delivered to me without flinching. 'You may not like how war is done, but you must be able to recognize when a better play was done.'

'I know, it's just… I hate this!'

'I know, buddy.' I looked at the debris of a fallen Sutherland. 'How I know…'

We haven't talked about what happened the day of the battle, when he suddenly went on a rampage and attacked me. No physician was capable of finding anything out of the ordinary with him aside from great fatigue. He couldn't remember what he did either, so we were left with a silent feeling of nervousness from the chance of it happening once more.

'Even civilians were caught in the line of fire…'

There was a small town just below the mountain, which was heavily hit by the large masses of mud and rocks that fell downhill. A great number of people there died as a result, bodies being dragged out of the mud every hour, no sight of the ending. Despite acknowledging his tactical prowess, I couldn't stomach the price Zero was willing to pay for winning.

'Excuse me. Does any of you know where I can find Private Rai Hodges? I was told he would be aiding in the search efforts of this area.'

'You are speaking with him.' I raised my body to answer to the soldier. 'What's this about?'

'The viceroy and sub-viceroy wish to meet you at the command tent.' Before I could inquire him any further on the topic, he left the tent we were in.

'Any idea what this is about?'

'No idea, unless… she wants to punish me for being a tad rude to her during the battle.'

'I would say that's unlikely, but considering how nobles are…' Suddenly his eyes changed to a more serious appearance. 'Maybe… she knows about that?'

"That" referred to the fact I had the blood of the Royal Family within my veins, an information that could lead to serious problems. I doubted that was the case, considering how only four people knew about the information (that I was aware of) and none of them would say a word.

'No, it's probably something else.' I sighed heavily while drying my hair just a bit. 'Anyway, if I don't go, it'll only raise suspicious.'

'Agreed.' I started to go away when he spoke once again just before I left the tent. 'Be careful.'

'I will, don't worry.'

Say what you will about Britannia, but when it came to military affairs, there was no one who could surpass them. In just a day, a large-scale searching effort was stabilized around the area and a great number of bodies, equipment and debris was found and taken care of. In the speed things were going, by the end of the next day, the whole area would be cleaned and the rebuilding would officially start. Efficiency at its best form, I believe.

I easily found the command tent, with two members of the viceroy's inner circle standing at the entrance, looking at every person who passed. The one on the right was Gilbert G.P. Guilford, a tall and slender man who held the title of personal knight of princess Cornelia, leading her royal guard. The one on the left was Andreas Darlton, a general of the army who was fiercely loyal to the viceroy. They were talking to each other when they noticed me approaching.

'Your name, soldier.'

'Private Rai Hodges, Camelot division.' I saluted them both in the customary way.

'Ah, the viceroy is waiting for you.' General Darlton's smile made a great difference to his somewhat brute-looking face. 'You can go inside.'

The viceroy, Cornelia li Britannia, was a well-known woman across the globe, having earned several victories for the Homeland. She had long dark pink hair and indigo eyes, together with the air of a person who fought many battles. She was chatting happily with her younger sister Euphemia, both of them sitting at a desk with a tea set at the table, three empty cups included. There was also a metallic box at its side, its contents unknown.

'Oh, thanks for coming.' She pointed to the only empty chair available. 'Please, take a seat and join us.'

'Yes, your highness.' I am sure being invited to tea by a princess of the Empire should be considered the greatest honor, but I couldn't think of that when I was in that position myself. 'You wished to see me?'

'Yes, to thank you.' If I said I wasn't surprised by that (did I already said this? If I did, sorry about that), I would be lying. 'I inquired your superior on the identity of the devicer piloting that modified Sutherland… what's its name?'

'Sutherland Club.'

'Exactly.' She was serving the tea herself, filling each cup with the warm liquid and giving one to each of us. 'I must say, there aren't many people who can convince me not to fight when the enemy was right in front of me.'

'I did what I believed was the best course of action, my lady.'

'Oh, I'm not angry at you or giving you a reprimand. Quite the contrary, I'm grateful for what you did. I received a report saying that if I had fought with my Gloucester in that state, the chances of me surviving would be less than optimal. I must thank you for saving me.'

'I wasn't the only one. Even though it was an enhanced version, the Sutherland couldn't possibly deal with that red Knightmare the Black Knights had. It defeated the Purist Faction on its own and several other frames. If not for Suzaku and his Lancelot, I doubt we would be having this conversation now.'

'True, but we are not talking about Kururugi here, but of you.' Her eyes pierced me with a strong gaze. 'I heard it has been only two weeks since you joined the army.'

'That's true.'

'Despite that, you can pilot a Knightmare with such great skill.' Princess Euphemia gave me a warm smile. 'That's impressive, Private Hodges.'

'Not for very long.' Cornelia picked up the box that was sitting at the table alongside the tea set. Opening it, she showed me two insignias shining in there. 'Do you recognize these?'

'One is for Chief Warrant Officer. The other is for a Second Lieutenant.'

'Then congratulations, Second Lieutenant Hodges.'

Shocked wouldn't even begin to describe how I was feeling when I picked the insignia in my hand, looking at it as if it was about to jump away from my hands. I am not that knowledgeable about military history, but I doubt someone has ever risen from Private to Lieutenant in just two weeks.

'What about the other one?'

'That's for Kururugi.' She didn't sound too pleased. 'He… deserves it, after all.'

Such was the way of Britannia: an Honorary Britannian would receive just a minor promotion while I, a "true" Britannian would rise much faster in less time. Even though Suzaku had been in the Army far longer than me and performed a greater job, he would receive a lot less than me. I nearly lost control and threw it away. Nearly.

'Thank you.'

'That's not all. I have a special proposition for you.' I remember her looking straight in my eyes, indigo on blue, with great intensity. 'I am always looking for talented people for my Royal Guard. And since there are few men like you, I wish for you to fill a place on it.'

Each member of the Britannian Royal Family had a personal guard chosen by the members, a group of people who would protect and serve them faithfully. It was especially true when the person was known for military prowess, with the guard as well-known as the one they served. Cornelia's Royal Guard had great fame and prestige all across the Empire and a position on it would grant you for life.

'Sorry, but I'll have to refuse.' I said without even flinching.

'May I know the reason?'

'My lady, I believe that it wouldn't feel right. Not just have I been in the military for too short a time, but there's also the issue of my lack of actual combat experience. I fear that I may commit a serious mistake when it comes down to protecting you.'

'I see…' She sounded a bit disappointed with my answer, but understanding. 'Once again, you show great talent at analyzing a situation. Now I want you even more.'

'Perhaps once I have a few more battles behind me.'

'I will eagerly wait for that day to come. In the meantime, if there's something you wish aside from that, you can ask it as your reward.'

'Actually…'

* * *

'No way you did that.' Suzaku was looking at me as if I was crazy.

'I did and she agreed.' I kept the insignia in the palm of my hand, staring at it with an underwhelming feeling of sadness. 'Sorry about this.'

'Why?'

'Feels wrong that you, my senior, receives less credit than me, who did far little in comparison.'

'It's fine.' He closed my hand around the insignia. 'You are my friend, so I will simply be happy to see you growing in rank. Besides, you said you wanted to help me achieve my vision, didn't you?'

'Even so…' Before I can speak any further, Lloyd appeared out of himself from happiness, jumping from joy before hugging me so strongly that he lifted me for a few moments. 'Lloyd!'

'I could marry you right now!' Lloyd started to spin me around (how the heck was he so strong?). 'I have no idea what kind of pact with the devil you did and I don't care! All that matters is that you got us an increase of budget!'

That was the thing I asked of Cornelia instead of that position in the Royal Guard: by stating that an increase of budget would lead to better frames for both me and Suzaku, we could be more effective in the field. It would also mean a few steps closer to mass-producing the Lancelot, with her finally agreeing to it after some time. But under the condition that I showed her the new frame after it was done.

'Put me on the floor already!'

'I just contacted the lab and told them to get the pieces ready for the Lancelot Club.' Cécile appeared with a wide smile.

'We are still going for the Club thing?' Why the hell it was called Club anyway?

'I can't wait to get it ready! With the data gathered by you two, we can do so much more than a modified Sutherland! We can even build a second Lancelot!'

'Hey…' Suzaku patted my shoulder while pointing to three people near the tent where the bodies were being kept.

'That's… Shirley?'

A young woman who clearly was our friend Shirley was following an older woman who seemed to be her mother and a dark-skinned military woman that I recognized from the Purist Faction (or what remained of it). They got inside the tent and a shiver ran down my spine, the premonition of something bad at the horizon.

'What is she doing there?'

'Could it be…?'

* * *

Everyone was silent as the priest was saying the final words. The whole Student Council was there, together with Oldrin Zevon and Princess Marrybell, looking at the black coffin was brought down at its place. I never met the deceased, but I heard about how kind and caring he was, always doing his best to make up to the time he had to spend away from his only daughter. I heard all of that from the mouth of that very same daughter, a girl with bright orange hair and green eyes, who went alongside greatly with her smile.

That smile wasn't there that day, replaced by a face that showed deep loss and devastation. Shirley Fenette had lost her father two days before, his life taken by the landslide caused by Zero in Narita. The realization that I was there when it happened made my chest heavy and my eyes seeing a bit of red. If Zero was in front of me in that moment, the things I was thinking of doing to him were unspeakable.

'No! Stop it!' Shirley's mother suddenly yelled when they started to cover the coffin. 'Don't bury him anymore! Don't make him suffer any longer! Darling! Darling!'

Mom… Mom, please.' Shirley got on her knees and tried to comfort her mother.

I couldn't look at them any longer, so unbearable it was to watch over them. How could such a thing happen? One thing was to know several people died because of the battle, other was to actually have someone close to you losing a loved person. No one should have to endure such a thing, ever!

'Shirley… I am so sorry…' Kallen was looking at the floor while speaking.

'Oh, stop this. What are you apologizing for?' Hearing those words made Kallen look away, eyes of pure guilty for some reason.

'I-I am sorry too!' Rivalz stepped forward and surprised Shirley. 'You know… during the hoteljacking I was thinking the Black Knights were kind of cool, but now… I even posted how what happened was cool in online forums.'

'Rivalz…' I muttered under my breath.

'So, I'm truly sorry!' He bent his body, lowering his head to Shirley.

'Don't be like that. This has nothing to do with this.' Shirley approached him while smiling a little. 'Even I thought that what happened was cool and...'

'Stop!' Milly put her hands over Shirley's shoulders. 'I'm worried about you. 'Have you cried? If you try to hold it in, it'll just become harder later.'

'I'm okay now…' She closed her emerald eyes. 'I had my cry.'

'Shirley, I know how it feels to lose someone like that better than anyone.' Oldrin held her hands with care. 'If you ever wish to speak to someone, just come to me, alright?'

The way she spoke made something like a sharp pain come over my heart, with no clue as for why. A heavy weight covered my chest for just a moment, but it was enough to make me fear the reason for it.

'It was cowardly!' Suzaku surprised everyone with his sudden burst of anger. 'The Black Knights… Zero's methods are cowardly! He never faces the danger himself, only using people and spreading suffering, only to act as the judge and declare himself the winner!'

'Hey, calm down.' I understood his anger, but speaking like that wouldn't change a thing.

'If you do things the wrong way, it becomes meaningless! Nothing changes by your actions!'

'Cut it out!' I may have spoken a little bit too loud. 'Not now, Suzaku.'

'He is right.' Marrybell whispered under her breath. 'Terrorism is a sickness that only brings tragedy.'

'We should be going now.' Milly could notice the tense air and shifted the subject. 'Shirley, we'll be waiting for you. For as long as it takes.'

Everyone aside from Lelouch left Shirley and started to go away, with Kallen giving the other girl one last guilty look. Why would she feel like that was a mystery to me, since she apparently had no hand at what happened? What worried me more than anything was Suzaku, who was considerably angry and showing a terrible expression. Considering his nervous breakdown just two days before, I had a few reasons to worry.

'Suzaku…'

'Rai, I… want to be alone. Just for a bit.' He didn't look at me as he went away.

Soon it started to rain, heavy droplets of water falling down from the heavens, from where some people would say Shirley's father was. The sky reflected the general mood of the Student Council perfectly, with heavy dark clouds covering the usually blue and bright sky. My skin got colder and my clothes started to stick to my body, but I didn't cared much about it.

'If you stay in the rain like that, you'll get a cold.' Mao was holding an umbrella, his usual smile gone. 'Let's go somewhere warmer and drier.'

* * *

'Here's your pizza.'

'Today they are on me.' Mao's usual smile returned to his face. 'So, care to share a bit what's on your mind?'

'It's quite full today…'

'I can hear it anyway, so why not share what worries you willingly?'

I didn't have to speak any words, as my mind would tell everything he needed to know about my worries. His face remained unchanged during the whole time and we kept eating in silence, the hot cheese filling my mouth as time went by. Only when the second pizza came, words were spoken.

'Summarizing it, you are worried about your partner, suspicious about that girl Kallen and sad about what happened to Shirley.'

'That's about it.'

'About Suzaku, there's nothing for you to worry about. I got close enough to take a peek inside that head of his and he seemed angry, but fine. He won't do anything stupid, so you don't have to worry about that.'

'Thank goodness.'

'Now, as for this Kallen… I'm not sure what to say.'

'You know the reason why she is feeling so bad, don't you?'

'Yes, I do. Want me to say it?'

'No… it would fell wrong to do so. I hope she opens up one day.'

'I seriously doubt that.' The way he spoke gave me a shiver. 'That's not all there is, right?'

'What do you mean?'

'There's a hidden thought inside your head, one you don't want to admit is lurking at the corners of your mind.'

'I… don't know what you are talking about.'

'Yes, I think you do.' He leaned over the table and got himself closer to me. 'Despite what happened, how a friend of yours lost someone so dear to her, there's this tiny little part of yours who keeps questioning if what the Black Knights did was truly wrong.'

'I don't…'

'You saw the numbers and couldn't help but think that Zero must have calculated his actions to make as little innocents die. The analytical side of yours knows that he knew what he was doing and he did it with the least amount of bodies to be counted among the civilians at the town. Adding that to the somewhat righteousness of his cause, to be an ally to those who have no power for themselves, you are questioning what your partner's dream.'

'I…'

'You never believed in what Suzaku did, right? That it was possible to change the system from the inside out. I think your thoughts on that matter are closer to the Black Knights and you are aware of that, so much you don't want to face it. You saw for yourself how rotten the system is and doubts the possibility of a change from within…'

'STOP IT!' The whole restaurant goes silent. 'Just… stop.'

'Rai, it's no use to run away from the truth, it'll only make it worse. Suzaku and the others may not see it very clearly, but you do. You know that what Zero did was wager war to a nation and innocents always die in wars. Even if Zero hadn't done what he did, the people below would suffer in some way or another because of such a large scale battle was happening upside the mountain.'

'That's…'

'Truth is, you would feel bad for the dead, but they would be just a number for you, just like every living being. The only real difference here is that someone close to you lost something. All those thoughts are making you guilty and ashamed for your friend.'

I wished I could say he was lying and making up things, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it because it was true. All of it. Lloyd explained to me that the landslide was most likely caused by the strong surge of radiation that was caused by the red Knightmare, enhanced several times. He also told me that if it was increased just a bit, the entire mountain could come down and destroy the entire city. It, it didn't, only affecting a really small part of it.

That meant Zero knew exactly what he was doing and controlled the thing to affect as little people as possible. After realizing that, I started to think about their past actions, noticing how the civilians' casualties could be far worse. His actions were wrong, but I couldn't stop myself from thinking that he could do a lot more damage if he wanted to.

'Dammit…'

* * *

'Hum… what now?' Just when I managed to catch some sleep, My cell phone started to ring. 'Who is calling me so early?'

'Hello? Rai?' Cécile's voice could be heard on the other side, tones of tiredness painting it. 'Lloyd wants you to come over here.'

'It's six o'clock in the morning and I barely slept.' All those conflicting thoughts kept waking me up all night. 'How important is it?'

'Our dear boss is jumping from excitement.'

'I'm going…'

Arriving at the headquarters with barely no morning light during such an early hour wasn't in my list of things I enjoyed doing. As I made my way to where Cécile and Lloyd were, I noticed what seemed to be a Knightmare covered by a long piece of cloth. Curious, I made my way to where they were.

'Everyone here worked around the clock and the entire extra budget went out the window, but we did it!' Despite the heavy bags under his eyes, Lloyd was in ecstasy. 'It's done, the Lancelot Club!'

'Was it really necessary to wake me up so early just to show it to me?'

'Of course it was!'

'No, it wasn't.' Cécile looked like she was about to fall down from sleep deprival. 'Lloyd, everyone wants to sleep, so get on with it already.'

'Fine, fine!' It seemed like nothing could cool down his enthusiasm. 'Without delay, this is the Lancelot Club!'

The dramatic reveal was spoiled a tad by how he couldn't pull the heavy cloth of the frame and needed my help. Even with that and my sleepy mind, I had to admit the thing was a bit impressive. Its basic structure and design was the same of the Lancelot, but with a white and blue color scheme instead of the gold and white.

'It's… great.' I touched it with a mesmerizing look in my eyes.

'Well, despite having a greater performance than the Sutherland, we couldn't make it to have the same level of the Lancelot due to the exaggerated price of Sakuradite. We also had to use spare parts from the Lancelot to build it so quickly, but since its performance its quite peaky, you are the only one in Area 11 aside from Suzaku who can pilot it effectively.'

'I see…'

'Now let's get ourselves some sleep.' Cécile's tired face showed some irritation as she started to drag Lloyd away. 'Rai, you look like you are about to fall down from exhaustion.'

'I couldn't sleep so well last night.'

'Then use one of the back offices and get some sleep. We may have an important operation tonight.'

'What kind of operation?'

* * *

'Despite everything, the Viceroy still has some reservations regarding the use of Numbers in operations.' We were receiving a briefing from General Darlton, the setting sun sending shadows across the warehouse in front of us. 'However, I believe we must make use of every asset… even the son of the former Prime Minister.'

Wait, so Suzaku was… so many things started to make sense when I discovered that piece of information. As for the young man himself, he could only look down as he listened to his words. I imagine that his father being who he was, he must have endured more hardships than other honorary Britannians.

'Our target is Katase. If he is taken out of the picture, then the Japanese Liberation Front is done. Our naval division is being sent to capture him alive, while you two will help by providing cover fire for them.' Darlton was a military man to the bone, speaking all of those words as if matters of fact. 'You must also eliminate any surviving members attempting to escape.'

'Eliminate, sir…?' Suzaku's face changed to one of shock.

'Aside from the target, no one must remain alive.' Suzaku showed an even more distraught expression at those words. 'Warrant Officer Kururugi, showing your dedication to Britannia is the fastest way to rise on the ranks. The same goes for you, Lieutenant Hodges.'

'Yes, my lord.' Suzaku clearly felt down.

'What an interesting way to test your morals, don't you think?' Lloyd showed himself out of nowhere, making Suzaku grip his Knightmare's key even stronger.

I found him by the Lancelot, skulking over what seemed like a pocket watch. He looked troubled, possibly divided by what he believed in and what he must do. I knew that because I too was feeling the same conflicts within myself.

'Hey.'

'Hey.' I sat down by his side, completely in silence. 'Can I… can I ask you a question?'

'Sure, go ahead.'

'This wish of yours, to change Britannia from within, do you truly believe that can be done by just the two of us?'

'Probably not.' His honesty surprised me a little. 'But even if we can't do it, if we set an example for others to follow, maybe one day things will change.'

'Is that how you think?'

'I have to… because there's no other way.' His gaze upon the broken watch was so penetrating that I half-expected a hole to appear on it. 'He wasn't a very good father, you know?'

'You mean the Prime Minister?'

'Yeah… always working away and when he was around, a harsh and cold person even to his own son, but even so… I was proud to be called his child.'

'That so?'

'He died… so the war against Britannia wouldn't come to a do or die resistance. His sacrifice saved countless lives back then.' You could also say that it led to the creation of the JLF, but I kept my mouth shut.

'He sounds like a complex man.'

'He was.' Then he gripped the watch on his hand, the watch that would never move again. 'And I know… that he still watches over me.'

'That's the duty of any parent.'

'Yeah.' Then he put the object away. 'Perhaps it is.'

* * *

We were standing by the port, waiting for the Portmen being used for the assault to be deployed. I was holding my usual assault rifle with Suzaku having the same gun at my side. The viceroy was standing nearby outside her frame, overlooking the port before raising her arm.

'Commence the operation.'

All at the same time, the Portmen broke the thin barrier of the water and submerged beyond sight, while the support unit, me included, finished the final calibrations of our rifles. We needed precision, enough to eliminate all targets on the tanker without damaging the ship itself. Not just it was a valuable resource, but a single flame could ignite the Sakuradite within it, blasting everything away.

We moved towards our position and crouched, ready to fire as soon as any personnel appeared on deck. It was the first time the Lancelot Club was being used in real combat, so I was slightly nervous as I didn't had any time to test the systems. But Lloyd was an artist when it came to designing Knightmares and the frame was working perfectly. It was clearly superior to my old Sutherland, God rests his soul.

I was firing alongside my squad, but I wasn't hitting anything since I was basically aiming for the sky. They wouldn't need to know I wasn't capable of hitting anything, right? But Suzaku was standing still, unable to fire a single bullet.

'This isn't a battle… it's one-sided slaughter.'

'Officer Kururugi.' I could hear Cécile contacting him. 'I know it must be hard for you, but you are a soldier, remember?'

'…is is the JLF, I repeat, this is the JLF!' I managed to intercept a signal from an open channel. 'We surrender, I repeat, we surrender!'

'Sir, it appears they wish to surrender.' I informed my superior officer at the moment.

'Forget it.' That surprised me more than anything. 'Our orders are to whipe them all out.'

'But sir…'

'Do not question my orders! It must be a ruse to escape!' Then the tanker started to move away from the port. 'See, what did I told you?'

'Yes sir…' That wasn't right! It couldn't be.

Why must we fire upon an enemy that was clearly outgunned? They had lost the battle before even beginning to fight, so why simply kill them all? Part of me knew it was the right way to do it, but other parts refused to accept the situation. But those thoughts didn't matter in view of what happened right after that.

Sakuradite is an extremely volatile substance, even more so in liquid form, so any attrition can ignite it with catastrophic consequences. When the first light appeared below the ship, my brain couldn't understand before a new sun appeared on the port in the exact place where the tanker was. The blinding light came first, but the shockwave that followed was the one that caused my brain to register the situation fully.

'Fuck!' Many of the Sutherlands around me were blown away by the wave of air that came with the explosion, but the Blaze Luminous system of my frame prevented me from being sent away. 'Did they really blow the Sakuradite?'

'I don't know!' Suzaku answer back, also using the Blaze Luminous to protect himself. 'No message or threat was issued!'

But that wasn't the end of it, as what seemed like a small boat suddenly fired missiles at our forces and crashed on land. As our unit tried to take the surviving Portmen out of the water, we heard a situation of pure chaos from the comm. The main force was being attacked by an unknown force, which meant.

'Did they used the tanker as a decoy?' Suzaku had the same thought as me.

'Suzaku, the viceroy!' I said, understanding the whole plan. 'We must hurry, now!'

As we move towards the princess, one thought was dancing on my mind: how fortunate for the unknown force, possibly the Black Knights, that the remaining forces of the JLF decided to commit suicide and give them such a golden opportunity. No matter how much I tried to wrap my head around it, it was too big of a coincidence, unless… could they have caused the "suicide"?

We both jumped over a container and found the viceroy's Gloucester defeated by that red Knightmare from Narita and a Burai that was previously used by Zero. Suzaku managed to land a power kick on the Burai (it was a bit funny to watch it) while I went for the red one.

'Focusing only on results… can't you understand the pain you are causing, Zero!' Suzaku kept pounding the Burai with all he had, while I tried my best to block the red one's advances.

I must say I was grateful for the Club being a better version of my old frame, or I would probably be defeated by that red Knightmare. I was capable of putting up a fight against bit, preventing any and all chances for it to aid Zero. It seemed like Suzaku was doing a good job, as I heard an ejection system igniting before some crashes from behind me. But in that single moment of distraction, I dropped my guard just enough for the red one pass through.

'Lancelot, watch out!'

While Suzaku and the Black Knight were at each other's throats, a few Burais joined our battle, probably to reinforce Zero. After making sure that Zero was indeed fallen and that Suzaku could take care of himself, I readied myself to face the newcomers.

'I'll take care of the ones on the right.' Cornelia appeared at my right, her frame missing an arm. 'Can't be the damsel in distress forever.'

'As you wish.'

'Quite the gallant knight, aren't you?'

There were only three enemies in front of me, so I opted for a close-range approach, joining both of my MVS into a long dual lance and going on the offensive. The Burais were already outdated by then, but when facing a prototype of the seventh generation such as the Club, they couldn't stand a chance as I cut them down… but in such a way that it would force the ejection system to kick in.

'Dammit!' I clearly heard the anger in her voice. 'Lieutenant, don't let them escape!'

I pursued the enemy and was able to once again disable their frames without ending their lives. Too much bloodshed was spilled that near-ending night for me to add even more. Immediately after dispatching the last enemy, I saw that one ejected cockpit was nearby, its occupant stuck below it while two members of the Black Knights struggled to get him free. They froze in place when they noticed me, proceeding to shield the fallen comrade with their bodies.

'Loyal to the end…' I heard someone approaching from behind me and saw the Sutherland piloted by the same officer who refused to listen to the surrender from before.

'You filthy Elevens!' He pointed his gun to the trembling people below, the frame towering over them.

'Sir, they clearly can't fight anymore!' I moved to be on the way of his bullets. 'There's no need to end their lives!'

'Get out of my way, that's an order!' Then he pointed his gun directly to me. 'If you don't, I'll execute you on the spot!'

'…' I silently move away from his way. 'As you wish… sir.'

'Now you'll see why mongrels such as yourselves can't compare to the might of…' He went silent a mere moment after I made up my mind. 'You… bastard.'

'Maybe.' I took my sword out of his Knightmare's cockpit. 'Or maybe I'm the only person with some common integrity left on this fucking place.'

I protected the Black Knights from the shockwave of the resulting explosion, much to their shock. It only intensified as I helped them to release their comrade.

'You should go, now!' I turned the speakers on. 'Before more of them come this way.'

I couldn't hear them, but I was able to see their mouths uttering the words "thank you" to me, only increasing my shame. I watched as they went away from where I was and into the darkness, before the sounds of the battle awakened me. It shouldn't take much longer for it to end, but I had lost all desire to join it once more.

For a few moments, I just stood there, gazing at the night sky and thinking about some things. Suzaku's honest wish to bring change from the inside always seemed like a farfetched idea, but now more than ever, it felt like an impossible one. But even so, I will try my best to help him, not because I believed on his ideals, but because he did. And that was enough for me… or was it?

* * *

 _ **So, it's been a while, hasn't it? I must say that I didn't expect that working would take so much of my time as it did, so it was a busy year, so I apologize for everyone that read this story. With a third season on the way, I thought it would be a good idea to start again updating this on a more regular basis. With this, Rai is starting to slowly change towards his own opinions and desires regarding the situation in Area 11, which will have huge impacts on the way the story unfolds. As a preview to the next chapter, I'll inform you that the focus will be on Mao and the relationship between him and Rai.**_


End file.
